Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] tenses - Ex 3:14

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Vadim Cherny" <VadimCherny AT mail.ru>
  • To: "Peter Kirk" <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] tenses - Ex 3:14
  • Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2005 11:02:31 +0300

Present tense
Genesis 32:32 "the children of Israel do not eat"

would not eat
Grammatical future tense is used for repeated or continuous action.

This is not future in English or Hebrew.

It is derivative usage of future tense. In Hebrew, English, and Russian future tense came to signify habitual action; idiomatic usage emerged. Of course, idiomatic usage eventually became divorced from the original, etymological meaning.
I don't say that all yiqtols are future tense. No. What I say, etymologically yiqtols are future tense. By Tanakhic times, they acquired infrequent idiomatic usage, mainly as ci-yiqtol, to signify habitual action. Yiqtols also were used with shifted deictic center to refer to what were past events at the time of writing, but future from the narrator's shifted viewpoint.

This derivative, idiomatic usage does not invalidate the notion that English and Spanish have tenses. ...
Everyone agrees that English has tenses. But "would" is not the future tense, "will" is.

But "would" derived from "will." Similarly, in Hebrew etymological future tense diversified. In Hebrew and English, we must recognize that yiqtol and will are generally future tense (not aspects), but allow for relatively rare idiomatic usage. We cannot, as Rolf suggest, choose ad hoc meaning for every yiqtol encountered.

Vadim Cherny




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page