Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

On 5/13/05 6:36 AM, "Uri Hurwitz" <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com> wrote:

> it is legitimate to ask if the binyanim/stems had no original function, how
> and why did they arise when they did in all Semitic languages?

Uri,

I agree this is a legitimate question for language historians. However, the
state of the language in the biblical period is the focus of this dispute.
Grammarians who formulate rules which assign semantic value to these marked
forms run significant risks. The original function of the marked form may
not have been semantic and the original function may not have survived or
only survived in faint traces.

If the original function was not semantic in nature then assigning semantic
significance to the surviving traces in the biblical period is going to
cause a lot of confusion for students.


kol tuv,

Clay Bartholomew