Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Vadim Cherny" <VadimCherny AT mail.ru>]

> > I recall that "will" acquired its future tense auxiliary role in ME. 
> > Thus, at some point it shared functions of independent verb abd tense 
> > auxiliary. At that time, "What wilt thou?" is a close analogy to 
> > idiomaically employed future tense in Hebrew.
> The verb "will" certainly had two different uses, one as a future 
> auxiliary and one as an independent verb. Both uses are common in the King 
> James Bible. But the two uses are clearly distinct, already by 1611, both 
> in syntax (the future auxiliary has no "to" before the following verb, 
> which is mandatory with the independent verb form)

but there is no "to" in "What wilt thou?"

> and in meaning. It would be possible to translate Genesis 37:15 into King 
> James English with "What does thou will?" or "What wilt thou?", but the 
> syntax as well as the context indicates that this is not the future 
> auxiliary "will" but the independent verb "will".

If I recall correctly, "will" as future aux is attested from the 14th 
century. For some time, "will" was not specialized, and continued 
predominantly as a verb, with some usage as future aux. "What dost thou 
will" is not future tense, but it is, so to say, future-oriented, as a 
desire. And that sense of future is preserved both in Gen37:15 and in its 
Russian translation что изволите.

Vadim Cherny