Biblical Hebrew Forum

["UUC" <unikom AT paco.net>]

"Native speakers"... Sounds almost metaphysical.
If the language is simple enough that ancients knew - and understood - the
rules, why is the modern tendency of clothing simple things into
undecipherable terms? I spent years with grammar before I could finally make
sense of the Hebrew Language article in Jewish Encyclopedia. Initially,
there were paragraphs were I did not understand a single word. Curious

Sincerely,

Vadim Cherny


> I would think the answer would be obvious: it's only complicated to us, it
> wasn't to them because they were native speakers.
>
> On Wednesday 26 May 2004 07:54, UUC wrote:
> > I always wondered, If the grammar is so complicated, how did the
ancients
> > spoke these languages, anyway? Surely it looked to them simpler than
that.
> >
> >
> > Sincerely,
> >
> > Vadim Cherny
> >
> > > Serves to prove the view that the waw consecutive verbs are not
> > > imperfects
> >
> > at all, but preterites (past tense) with a non-converse waw. The jussive
is
> > formed off the preterite, hence both forms are shorter than the
imperfect.
> >
> > > Best regards,
> > >
> > > GEORGE ATHAS
> > > Lecturer in Biblical Languages
> > > Southern Cross College
> > > Sydney, Australia
> > >
> > >
> > >   ----- Original Message -----
> > >   From: Harold R. Holmyard III
> > >   To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > >   Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2004 6:22 AM
> > >   Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Vav consecutive Gen 1:3
> > >
> > >
> > >   Dear Chris,
> > >
> > >   >I really mean it, I don't go looking for trouble but:
> > >   >
> > >   >Genesis 1:2  --  Let there be light and there was light.
> > >   >
> > >   >My grammar book states ( about the perfect + imperfect sequence):
> > >   > "The
> >
> > vav
> >
> > >   >consecutive is used nowhere else in the whole hebrew verb system
> > >   > except here".  I.E. Vav with patach.
> > >   >
> > >   >So? YHi (yod heh yod) being a jussive is followed by exactly the
same
> >
> > except
> >
> > >   >with Vav consecutive, and as I understand it one cannot point the
vav
> >
> > in
> >
> > >   >this manner EXCEPT on a vav consecutive. Yet this second verb is
also
> > >   >imperfect.
> > >   >
> > >   >Now you can all obliterate my reasoning because as is usual I have
to
> >
> > be
> >
> > >   >missing something obvious.
> > >
> > >   HH: I changed the header since the verse you cite is Gen 1:3. You
may
> > >   be overlooking something. The preceding verb of importance may be
> > >   "and he said," because "Let there be light" is an object clause for
> > >   the verb of saying. So "and he said" is the main clause. The thought
> > >   progression may be: "And he said something, and there was light." So
> > >   the waw consecutive on "and there was" may follow a similar waw
> > >   consecutive on "and he said," which may go back to the QATAL verb
> > >   "was" in Gen 1:2: "darkness was."
> > >
> > >   Yours,
> > >   Harold Holmyard
> > >
> > >   _______________________________________________
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> >
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>
> --
> Dave Washburn
> http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
> Learning about Christianity from a non-Christian
> is like getting a kiss over the telephone.
>
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