Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] tenses

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Vadim Cherny <VadimCherny AT mail.ru>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] tenses
  • Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2005 12:26:10 +0100

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/



--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.11.3/107 - Release Date: 20/09/2005





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page