Biblical Hebrew Forum

[David Kummerow <farmerjoeblo AT hotmail.com>]

Oppps. Before someone corrects me, let me correct myself. Feature 3 
should read: Qal 3ms, 3fs, and 2ms of hollow verbs.

David Kummerow.

> I should add that it is not just a-vowel + gemination that is diagnostic 
> in BH of the preterite/narrative past tense verb (aka wayyiqtol) but 
> also the following:
>
> 1. Hiphil 3ms, 3fs, and 2ms of all verbs except final-heh;
> 2. apocopation of 3ms, 3fs, and 2ms of final-heh verbs;
> 3. Qal 3ms, 3fs, and 2ms; and
> 4. Preterite and jussive do not take the the third-person pronominal 
> suffixes augmented with nun (I can't remember if this is complicated by 
> the gradual use of the long cohortative form being used for the 
> first-person preterite/narrative past tense verb, though).
>
> Regards,
> David Kummerow.
>
>
> > Gday Bob,
> >
> > I would argue that the Masoretes are recording exactly what they 
> > heard, ie a-vowel + gemination of the first root consonant. Rolf will 
> > argue differently based upon his assumptions.
> >
> > But it depends, also, on what you mean by "original". Original at the 
> > time of the Masoretes, original to 1000-400BC, or original to 
> > proto-Hebrew? Some (eg Andersen 2000: 20, 51; Müller 1991; Revell 
> > 1984: 443) explain the gemination as having arisen so as to preserve 
> > the vowel quality in order to be distinct from a reduced /we/. Others 
> > argue that the a-vowel and gemination are the remnants of a clitic; 
> > see McFall 1982: 217-219 and Hatav 2004 for proposals.
> >
> > Andersen, T. David. 2000. “The Evolution of the Hebrew Verbal System.” 
> > Zeitschrift für Althebraistik 13: 1-66.
> > Hatav, Galia. 2004. “Anchoring World and Time in Biblical Hebrew.” 
> > Journal of Linguistics 40: 491-526.
> > McFall, Leslie. 1982. The Enigma of the Hebrew Verbal System: 
> > Solutions from Ewald to the Present Day. Historic Texts and 
> > Interpreters in Biblical Scholarship 2. Sheffield: Almond.
> > Müller, Hans-Peter. 1991. “wa-, ha- und das Imperfectum consecutivum.” 
> > Zeitschrift für Althebraistik 4: 144-160.
> >
> > Regards,
> > David Kummerow.
> >
> > > Thanks for all the contributions on this subject. In spite of the rather
> > > confusing terminology - all those kill and be killed verbs - it has been
> > > informative of linguistic issues and the disagreements.
> > >
> > > I found a useful paper at
> > > http://www.basicsofbiblicalhebrew.com/images/wayyiqtol1.pdf
> > >
> > > I find it curious, that the form of the waw conversive, or not, is 
> > > contained
> > > in the vowel markings and a dagesh forte.
> > >
> > > Does the dagesh occur in the original or is it also a Masoretic 
> > > invention?
> > >
> > > Bob
> > >
> > > Bob MacDonald
> > > Victoria BC
> > > http://gx.ca
> > > http://bmd.gx.ca