Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Daladier Lima" <daladier2001 AT hotmail.com>]

In verse 17, chapter 1 (verse 1, chapter 2 of Tanach) Yonah is launched into 
sea, where one big fish (DAG, masculine) swallow he.
In verse 1, chapter 2 (verse 2, chapter 2 of Tanach) he pray of stomach of 
one fish (DAGAH, fem).
Why between this two verses have the difference?

Daladier Lima
Hebrew student
>From brocine AT twcny.rr.com  Mon Aug 18 09:38:14 2003
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From: "B. M. Rocine" <brocine AT twcny.rr.com>
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Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] One question about Yonah
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2003 09:38:13 -0400
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Hi Daladier,

In short, a conclusive explanation is difficult.  As a student of Biblical
Hebrew, you will find that such inconclusive explanations are all too
common!  ;-)

Both a masculine and feminine form of the word are well-attested, even by
the same writer, for instance, in NUmbers 11:5 (feminine) and 11:22
(masculine).

Gesenius (Compare sections 122 s and t) suggests that the masculine refers
to a class
or category, and that the feminine refers to one from the class, a singular
fish.  The HALOT lexicon allows the same possibility.  That explanation
seems a little "fishy" (I mean doubtful) to me in reference to Yonah in
particular because of the use of the
masculine in 2:11.

We may be looking at a scribal error in 2:2, called dittography, which
should be read haddag.

I don't suppose that the extra syllable is a rhetorical flourish left
over from the days when the story was repeated orally.  In such a case, I
believe that the accent on the word would be on the penultimate syllable
rather than on the last, as we see it in Yonah 2:2.

BTW, in post-biblical Hebrew, the feminine form came to mean a *small* fish.

Shalom,
Bryan


You wrote:
***********
In verse 17, chapter 1 (verse 1, chapter 2 of Tanach) Yonah is launched into
sea, where one big fish (DAG, masculine) swallow he.
In verse 1, chapter 2 (verse 2, chapter 2 of Tanach) he pray of stomach of
one fish (DAGAH, fem).
Why between this two verses have the difference?

Daladier Lima
Hebrew student
************


B. M. Rocine
Living Word Church
6101 Court St. Rd.
Syracuse, NY 13206

ph: 315.437.6744
fx: 315.437.6766