Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>]

> On Wed 12 May 99 (22:47:23), whu AT gcts.edu wrote:
> > Can someone please help me with the 'bet' in Prov. 8:2? BDB (p. 108) says 
> > it is the fem. form of the prep. 'ben'. But do prepositions also have 
> > grammatical genders? If yes, how do they function?
> 
>  Dear Wesley
> 
>  In the title you ask about BeYT; but in your text you seem to be asking
>  about the preposition B: in the first word of the verse, B:Ro'$-M:RoWMiYM

No, he's asking about BYT in the next clause, which Holladay also 
cites as a feminine form of BYN "between."  He lists Ezek 41:9 
and Job 8:17 as other instances; however, both of these seem to 
have textual notes.  Waltke-O'Connor, while not mentioning this 
form, does discuss the fact that BeYN seems to behave somewhat 
differently than most other particles in that it takes several forms, 
including BeYNeY (masc. construct plural) and BeYNoWT (fem. 
plural).  So in answer to the question, no, prepositions don't usually 
have grammatical gender.  However, this one does not appear to be 
(or behave like) a "usual" preposition; most of the speculation I've 
read concludes that it was originally a substantive, and it may be 
that some of the substantive behavior (including various 
grammatical forms) has "held over" to produce what we see in BH.

Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
A Bible that's falling apart means a life that isn't.