Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Herman Meester <crazymulgogi AT gmail.com>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Herman Meester <crazymulgogi AT gmail.com>
Date: 20-nov-2005 16:01
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Zech 6:8
To: Steve Miller <smille10 AT sbcglobal.net>


Dear Steve,
In my humble opinion, we have to be very careful, when we read what
grammars tell us is the original function of hif'il, or any other
stem, not to demand actual hif'il verbs to obey these rules.
If we suppose the hif'il "should basically be" the causative version
of the qal, we may get into trouble: there are so many exceptions to
the rule that we can't easily use the supposed basic functions of the
stem formations.
I admit, the older the Hebrew, the easier you can use these principles.
A nice example.
Take the later Hebrew hif'il le-hatchil (hitchil) "to begin". Is there
a root T CH L? No; the verb hitchil is a derivation of the word
t'chilla "beginning" which is of the root CH *weak* L. Imagine we have
a word Z(QH z'(aqa "scream" (well, we actually have) and a
denominative hif'il hiz(iq "to utter a scream". Then all of a sudden
the entire "strangeness" of this hif'il disappears. We may therefore
say, although it hardly matters much, that hiz(iq is not the hif'il of
the verbal stem Z(Q, but a denominative of z'(aqa. In the lexicon, we
could even include it in the lemma of the noun z'(aqa, instead of in
the lemma the verb z(q.
Hope this helps you out a little,
regards,
Herman

2005/11/20, Steve Miller <smille10 AT sbcglobal.net>:
> The first part of Zech 6:8, וַיַּזְעֵק  אֹתִי, is mostly translated "And he
> cried out to me", which translates the hiphil verb as though it was qal. And
> treats the אֹתִי as an indirect object rather than a direct object.
>
>
>
> A few translations (Jubilee2000, YLT, Stone Tanach)  translate it, as "And
> he called me" which is similar to the way the hiphil verb is translated in
> Judges 4:10 & 13.
>
>
>
> Why doesn't any translation translate it as, "and it [or He] caused me to
> cry out" which seems to be the most straightforward and the most meaningful?
> This would attach the first part of verse 8 to the end of verse 7. The
> strong horses going to & fro through the earth in verse 7 caused Zechariah
> to cry out due to the great suffering caused by the strong horses.
>
>
>
> Thank you,
>
> -Steve Miller,
>
> Detroit
>
> _______________________________________________
> b-hebrew mailing list
> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>