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  • From: "B. M. Rocine" <brocine AT twcny.rr.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] infinitive absolute
  • Date: Wed, 01 Nov 2006 13:57:05 -0500

Hi Joel,

To label the paronomastic use of the infinitve absolute as an "intensifier" or as "emphatic" is so reductionistic as to be a mere caricature of the thorough treatment this construction has received by the likes of Muraoka et al.

Of a case such as mot yamut, where it is impossible to imagine someone being "emphatically dead" or "more dead," we can refer to Muraoka's summary of situations when the paronomastic infinitive absolute reinforces some brand of modality rather than verbal action:

"...it is important to remember that the basic idea common to all the nuances of our construction as described above [referring to the "reinforcement of modality"] is that a given verbal idea is set apart and made distinct in abstracto, namely without any indication of person, number, etc. In this way it is stressed that the writer or speaker has especially intense interest in, or demands special attention of the hearer or the reader to what he expressed by the verbal form" (_Emphatic Words and Structures in BH_ Jerusalem: Magnes, 1985), p. 88.

If we don't know that the paronomastic infinitive absolute is somehow emphatic, somehow an intensifier, we are also going to have to imagine knowing extremely little about BH on any point. Is this your goal: to cast doubt on all our "traditional understanding" of the ancient tongue?

Shalom,
Bryan

Dr. Joel M. Hoffman wrote:
Regarding this topic, I also learned that an infinitive absolute
coupled with a finite verb form is an intensifier. I would be
interested in any *evidence* to demonstrate that it only means "liable

Alas, the emphatic nature of inf. absolute, like the emphatic nature
of a few other elements of biblical grammar, is mere hypothesis.
There is very little evidence to support the supposition that
inf. absolute had an intensive or empahtic meaning, and we find some
potential counterevidence.

For example, the frequent repetition of MOT YUMAT seems to militate
against an emphatic meaning. So does, e.g., the particular use in Gen
3:4: "The serpant told the woman you will not die" is much more
likely than the nearly nonsensical, "the serpant told the woman you
will not die empatically/certainly/etc."

Similarly, the infix -N- used before pronominal suffixes is frequently
assumed to impart an emphatic meaning, though there is little evidence
to support such a claim.

More generally, we seem to find some poorly understood variations in
Hebrew grammar, and the historical tendancy seems to have been ---
without justification, in my opinion ---- to assume that any extra
letters or words had to impart emphasis.

-Joel

Joel M. Hoffman, PhD
http://www.exc.com/JoelHoffman


--
B. M. Rocine
Living Word Church
6101 Court St. Rd.
Syracuse, NY 13026
(W): 315.437.6744




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