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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Passive Qal vs Hoph'al? - alas -neither!

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  • From: "Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>
  • To: "Uri Hurwitz" <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Passive Qal vs Hoph'al? - alas -neither!
  • Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2007 21:48:49 +0000

On 3/9/07, Uri Hurwitz wrote:

Well, this is wrong on two counts:

Gen 18:4 -- the root LQX appears mostly in Qal, however
15 different occurrences of this root are attested in the Pual;
most of them in the perfect - the Lamed intact, dagesh forte in
the middle letter of the root as is standard, though no root
letter is missing in the perfect.

There is no sense to ask why the root is not attested in Piel
because we have no way of addressing this question to ancient
speakers, scribes or editors.

Just because it is vocalized the same as a Pual doesn't mean that
it is (or was meant originally) as a pual. True, we can't address this
question to the ancient speakers, scribes or editors, but we can use
the evidence we do have to study the texts.

Pere's second question is about YUQQAM , Gen 4:24. This is
clearly derived from the root NQM, to take revenge, as a glance in the verse
and
its context makes clear. This is one of three attested cases of
the root in Pual, and the dagesh forte, again, is standard.

The nun would not be assimilated in the pual prefix forms.

As for passive Qal, what is meant is really the passive
participle,though occurrences in other tenses - or aspects! -
canot be ruled out. I say this because in Arabic, where there is the
equivalent of Niphal - ")Infa(ala" -, a passive form of Qal
does also exists.

No, that is not what is meant by passive Qal. The passive Qal is also
present in Amarna, including for the root lqx. See also here:
https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/b-hebrew/2007-February/031492.html
and the links cited there. I also refer you to Daniel Sivan's "Grammatical
Analysis and Glossary of the West Semitic Vocables in Akkadian Texts
of the 15th-13th C.B.C from Canaan and Syria" for a discussion of the
Qal passive in the Amarna and related texts (p. 169 - 171).

Yitzhak Sapir




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