Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 23/09/2005 12:16, Vadim Cherny wrote:

> > > > > Continuous or repetitive? How many times, in your Gen2 examples, 
> > > > > the earth was watered? ...
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Continuously, every day.
> > >
> > >
> > > Every day? At any rate, no more than one day. Then the earth became 
> > > watered, and the action became inessential. ...
> >
> >
> > Until the sun shone, the ground dried up, and the trees in the garden 
> > started to wither. Hey, surely that can happen even in Russia in 
> > summer, if you don't water a garden or park at least every few days.
>
>
> Peter, you attempt to slip out. The text contains no implication of 
> the continuous action whatsoever. ...


It is clearly both highly plausible, indeed preferable, in the real 
world situation, and indicated by the YIQTOL verb form.

...

> > Its etymology, like that of "will", is a verb meaning "want", as in 
> > "he willed it to happen" - the remaining rare use of "will" as an 
> > independent verb has a regularised morphology but certainly the same 
> > origin.
>
>
> Nope. "Want" produced "will," and "will" produced "would."


You lecture me on the etymology of my language?

> > Anyway, etymology is largely irrelevant to current meaning.
>
>
> Sure enough. And narrators employing ci-yiqtol did not dwell into its 
> etymological future tense. ...


It is not etymological future tense, as is clear from cognate languages.

> ... Note that deictic shifts and idioms are expectedly unusually 
> common in emphatic decidedly archaic narration like than in Tanakh.


It is archaic now, but it was not archaic when it was written, it was 
the normal narrative form of the Hebrew of its time.

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



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