Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 22/09/2005 09:30, Vadim Cherny wrote:

> ...
>
> > > Just a single example of clear usage of yiqtol as past tense or 
> > > imperfect
> > > would suffice for me to retract. But something clear, like 
> > > "yesterday he
> > > yiqtol."
> >
> >
> > Genesis 2:6 YA`ALEH
> > Genesis 2:10 YIPPARED
>
>
> Peter, you pointed to interesting, very interesting entries. The 
> funniest thing is that I never had a problem with that verse. 
> Naturally for Russian speaker, I read Genesis 2:6 with two future 
> tense verbs, yiqtol and weqatal. For me, this is the same ci-yiqtol 
> with ci implied. In 2:5, the earth was waterless. Then, [как] 
> поднимется пар; as would raise up, и как (ка-ак) увлажнит, and as 
> would water.
> The same is for yipared in 2:10: and the river would open from there. 
> This mode of expression is perfectly conventional in Russian, and in 
> fact common in archaic recitals. It might (in my opinion) or might not 
> be related to deictic shift, but it is possible. English expresses 
> that idea with past tense, but it is future in Russian and Hebrew.
Thank you, Vadim. These weren't hard to find, I simply read my English 
Bible from the start and looked at the Hebrew for a YIQTOL wherever 
there was a past continuous or repetitive form, and these were the first 
two examples I found.

I accept that these examples can be translated into English with 
"would", and into Russian with a 'historic perfective future' tense 
"used for graphic effect in past frequentative contexts, in literary and 
other written styles", as it is described in Wade's "A Comprehensive 
Russian Grammar" (second edition, Blackwells 2000, p.308). That does not 
imply that the Hebrew YIQTOL is a future tense, although (especially on 
Rolf's strict "uncancellable" definitions) it might imply doubt as to 
whether the Russian form is in fact a future tense. In fact this Russian 
use of a perfective future form with an imperfective past meaning seems 
somewhat analogous to the Hebrew "vav conversive" idea, although there 
is no equivalent of vav signalling it.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/



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