Biblical Hebrew Forum

["George Athas" <george.athas AT moore.edu.au>]

Hi Kenneth!
 
Some words have their default form in the Hiphil, rather than in the Qal
stem. This does not, however, mean that there is something overtly
'causative' about those words.
 
We have similar types of words in English. We often add '-ize' (or '-ise')
to make words causative (eg, 'theorize', 'jeopardize', 'finalize'). Yet,
there are words which naturally end in '-ize' which cannot have a meaning
without the '-ize' element (eg, 'recognize'). It could be that all these
words have a causative meaning of some sort, but that in some cases this is
quite subtle. Alternatively, some of these words might have no causative
meaning at all -- they just come naturally in this 'stem'.
 
The same principle can apply for all the non-Qal stems (eg, Piel, Hithpael,
etc.)
 
 

Best Regards, 

GEORGE ATHAS 
Moore Theological College (Sydney) 
1 King St, Newtown, NSW 2042, Australia 
Ph: (+61 2) 9577 9774