Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Steve ,
> > > > My last question is about the definite article attached to FSN1.  Is 
> > > > theresome significance to this noun being only the noun to have a definite 
> > > > article?
> > > >         
> > > HH: Yes, it is the subject.
> > >       
> > LF: I.e., "the woman I'm pointing to".
> >     
>  [Steve Miller] Thank you for this informative question and answers.
>
> What would be the difference in sense if the last noun, ben, had a definite
> article: 
>  - What if both almah and ben had definite articles? 
>  - What if almah did not have a def article, but ben did?
>   
HH: Liz seems to have treated the definite article here as though it had 
a demonstrative force, similar to "this woman." That is a possibility 
for the definite article here. However, there is another theory.

_Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar_ treats the definite article here as special 
but as an example of a category of usage (section #126 q-r). They say: 
"Peculiar to Hebrew is the employment of the article to denote a single 
person or thing (primarily one which is as yet unknown, and therefore 
not capable of being defined) as being present in the mind under given 
circumstances. In such cases in English the indefinite article is mostly 
used."

The go on to speak particularly of this article in Isaiah 7:14: "H(LMH, 
i.e., the particular maiden, through whom the prophet's announcement 
shall be fulfilled; we should say "a maiden."

For other examples of this class of usage they give, among others, Gen 
42:23; 1 Kings 19:9; Job 9:31.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard