Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Bryan,
> we might consider the "fuller" expression (i.e. it is
> "fuller" than simple _'almanah_) to be pragmatically marked,
> something like an adjectival clause might be-- "...a woman
> who is a widow."  tautology or pleonasm is often functional.
> as a confirmation of the idea you might check especially 2
> Sam 14:5 in which the speaker adds yet another tautology:
> _'ishah 'almanah 'ani wayyamat 'ishi_  "I am a widow woman
> and my husband died."  i think the woman's troubled
> emotional state is relected linguistically by the tautology.
> i think many of us wax wordy when we're troubled.

Alternately, is it possible that 'almanah is actually an adjective?  I 
know it's sometimes used substantively, but that's not unusual.  
OTOH, given the Hebrew penchant for pleonasm, I wonder if it isn't 
just an idiomatic expression.  Of course, that doesn't explain 2 
Sam 14:5...


Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
"No study of probabilities inside a given frame can ever
tell us how probable it is that the frame itself can be
violated."  C. S. Lewis