Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jonathan D. Safren" <yonsaf AT beitberl.beitberl.ac.il>]

George Athas wrote:

> . As Jonathan Safren mentioned, it looks like a Hiphil verb form 
> (imperfect, not
> perfect as Jonathan probably mistakenly wrote) of the root HWH.

Right, George, my mistake.
Also, somone else, I don't remember who, wrote to this list that the word 
must be trisyllabic.
This is mistaken, for the word divides into two syllables, yah and weh. The 
first is a closed syllable,
with the unvowelled heh having consonantal force. The second syllable also 
ends in heh, which may be
either an original consonantal heh, or may have evolved from a proto-Semitic 
yod, if the word is to be
construed as a hiphil imperfect from a lamed-heh stem. Thus also the 
lamed-heh verb yar'eh, and other
hiphil impfs such as yadber, yar'em (with an ayin).
But the etymology is uncertain.
Yours,
--
Jonathan D. Safren
Dept. of Biblical Studies
Beit Berl College
Beit Berl Post Office 44905
Israel