Biblical Hebrew Forum

["C. Stirling Bartholomew" <jacksonpollock AT earthlink.net>]

On 8/4/04 2:12 PM, "Peter Kirk" <peterkirk AT qaya.org> wrote:

> I think it might be easier to look at how participants are first
> introduced, because this is probably the marked or less common case.
> Major characters are commonly introduced by lengthy formulae like "There
> was a man...". See for example Ruth 1:1-2, Job 1:1. In Genesis, new
> major characters are mostly introduced by the reports of their birth, in
> genealogies etc, and so need no further introduction. Minor characters
> are introduced more simply, often as "X son of Y" or "X of/from Z".
> 
> Once participants have been introduced, they are usually referred to
> after that by a simple name, or by a pronoun where there is no ambiguity.

Thanks Peter,

Yes the major characters get substantial introductions. So lets shift the
question to minor characters. The article can be used in Greek to mark the
name of a participant which has already been introduced to the narrative.
But Hebrew doesn't appear to use articles with the names of people. I was
looking for some sort of formal mechanism in Hebrew which would function
like the Greek article to indicate that this person is already on stage.
Perhaps there is no such formal mechanism in Hebrew. Perhaps there is some
other means of accomplishing the same function.


greetings,
Clay Bartholomew