Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Trevor Peterson" <06peterson AT cua.edu>]

Clay wrote:

[snipped]
> 
> But saying that they can refer to iterative action isn't, by 
> itself, grounds for making exegetical or translation 
> decisions. Cats can be black but I cannot infer from that any 
> generalization about the color of a cat.
> 
> >(In English, we can say,
> > "He used to walk to work every day," or, "He used to walk 
> to work." In 
> >both  cases, the action is the same.)
> 
> Both of these explicitly encode iterativity. "He walked to 
> work" does not say anything about repetition but "He used to 
> walk to work" is explicitly
> iterative.

Well, then, here we have another question to address. Is the use of a
yiqtol form in a past narrative context an explicit indication of
iterativity? Or are the other contextual factors that come into play? If
we can identify a distinctive combination of factors that indicates
iterativity (like the otherwise rather meaningless phrase "used to"),
then yes, we can make exegetical decisions on that basis. Otherwise, we
may not be able to do much more than narrow the possibilities.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics