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  • From: peter_kirk AT sil.org
  • To: <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re[2]: Perfectivity of wayyiqtols
  • Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 21:07:24 -0400


There are two points here:

1. The sequence "wayyillachamu ... wayyapol": here, can we not
understand "wayyillachamu" as "started to battle", "entered battle"?
If not, why not?

2. The sequence "wayyapol ... wayyamot": logically, each person first
falls down then dies. I don't think we need to take this to mean that
first they all fell, then after the last one fell all died.

With this analysis, no question of imperfectivity I think, all
wayyiqtols are perfective.

(Actually, since the "doing battle" may have consisted of firing off
one volley of arrows (v.20), one could actually say that the doing
battle finished before the falling started, and then all fell before
the first one died, but I won't insist on that interpretation! ;-)

I wonder whether (given the disjunctive accent on "wayyamot") the
subject of "wayyamot" is in fact "some of the servants", and "gam
'uriyyah" is a sort of afterthought (more technically, a right
detached or right dislocated element). So perhaps translate "some of
David's servants fell and died - Uriah the Hittite as well."

Peter Kirk


______________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________
Subject: Re: Perfectivity of wayyiqtols
Author: <manstey AT portal.ca> at Internet
Date: 18/10/1999 15:46


Gday,

In searching for answers for my own question, I have found a very good
example of interrupted wayyiqtols (with no verbs of motion). 2 Sam 11.17
has:

wayyillachamu 'et-yo'ab wayyapol min-ha`am ...
and they battled Joab and they fell some of the people
wayamot gam 'uriyyah.
and he died also Uriah.

It is quite impossible that there was a battle THEN some of the army died
THEN Uriah died! Do you think these wayyiqtols are "functionally"
imperfective? If not, what are they aspectually? and If so, how would the
reader know not to link these sequentially, or to see them as perfective.
Why isn't the Hebrew, wayhi behillachem wayyapol ...?

With regards,
Matthew Anstey


>Genesis 37.28 vayya`avru ... vayyimshxu
>and they passed by...and they pulled up (before 'passing by' was complete!)
>ruth 1.6 vattashov no`omi
>and Naomi returned (but she didn't really return until verse 19)
>
>these are fairly unambgious and helpful examples for the relative nature of
>hebrew aspect as long as one first admits that vayyiqtol is perfective.
>
>braxot
>randall buth
>


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