Biblical Hebrew Forum

[David Kummerow <farmerjoeblo AT hotmail.com>]

All so-called indefinite use examples of the Hebrew definite article are 
treated my Müller 1991 and Ehrensvärd 2000a, 2000b: ch 2. These are 
quite useful reading.

Ehrensvärd, Martin. 2000a. "Determination of the Noun in Biblical 
Hebrew." Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 14: 301-314.
Ehrensvärd, Martin. 2000b. "Studies in the Syntax and the Dating of 
Biblical Hebrew." PhD diss., University of Aarhus.
Müller, Augustin R. 1991. "Zu den Artikelfunktionen im Hebräischen." 
Pages 313-329 in Text, Methode, und Grammatik: Wolfgang Richter zum 65. 
Geburtstag. Edited by Walter Gross, Hubert Irsigler, and Helmut 
Satzinger. St. Ottilien: EOS Verlag.

Regards,
David Kummerow.


> 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