Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear James,

> Sorry for the mess up before. That's what happens when you join a
> discussion from memory without checking the grammar first.
> However, while you are quite right that a regular verb would be
> bisyllabic I'm sure you are all aware that regular roots are few
> and far between. And that the root hwh is anything but regular.
> Plus the general conception that this is a causative form. To the
> best of my knowledge pe guttural hiphils and hophals are trisyllabic.
> The evidence from the ancient names of a second long vowel o/u is
> insurmountable.

HH: Perhaps trisyllabic ones are the norm, but I don't think a rule 
can discerned. Consider the Hiphil imperfect of HLK, which is HOLIYK 
(two syllables).

                                        Yours,
                                        Harold Holmyard