Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Studium Biblicum Franciscanum <sbfnet AT netvision.net.il>]

Title: Re: Wayyiqtol/X + qatal (Alvieri Niccacci)

Dear John Ronning,

Thank you for your comment.

On  02/27/99 (Re: Wayyiqtol/X + qatal (Alvieri Niccacci)) John Ronning wrote:


<snip>
>
> I guess this is where my reference to complicated theories
> comes in.  Do you think that someone who grows up hearing BH
> spoken and read, will conclude from such cases where
> wayyiqtol and qatal are interchangeable in prose past
> narrative, that such interchangeability is only permissible
> because there is somehow a "double sentence"?  Would he even
> know there is such a thing?
>

=="Double sentence" is another designation of what was traditionally is called "construction with waw of apodosis", or "pendens construction". I would again invite you to have a look at Chap.8 of my _Syntax_ where the different of forms of that construction are analyzed.

>
><snip>
>
> What I "hear" the texts "saying" is that in prose narrative,
> the qatal is often used for verbs that would be wayyiqtol
> except for the fact that they weren't so lucky to have the
> way- in front of them.  Consequently, I don't find cases
> where wayyiqtol and qatal act interchangeably to be
> "disturbing," as you once did.
>

==I do not think we find two verbforms totally interchangeable in any language. Please consider the evidence collected in Joüon-Muraoka #118d-g and/or in my _Syntax_ ##39-50.
One may be disturbed on considering some of the examples you quoted, such as Exod. 16:6b *`ereb wîda`tem*, and 1Kgs 15:13 *wegam 'et-ma`akâ 'immô wayesireha*. In fact, how would you explain the fact that something precedes weqatal and wayyiqtol, which are sentence-intial verbforms per se?

> After all, if lo' qatal is a negative wayyiqtol, why can't
> qatal function as a wayyiqtol without the conjunction?
>

==I can not give any theoretical answer. The evidence shows that BH has only one negative form for the past, i.e. lo' + qatal, which negates both wayyiqtol (both in narrative and in direct speech) and sentence-initial qatal (only in direct speech), while x-qatal (both in narrative and direct speech) is negated with x-lo' + qatal.

Peace.
Alviero Niccacci.

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