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  • From: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
  • To: Scott McAliley <scottanderin1 AT hotmail.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Dying, you will die Gen 2:17
  • Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2007 13:38:39 -0400

Scott and All,

I must say that I find the addition in the translation of 'surely' troubling. Surely God does not need to amplify his forewarnings by the use of "surely". God is not the principal of GAN-EDEN high school, emphatically warning a misbehaving student that unless he rectifies his behavior and refrains from sucking smoke out of the rod of pleasure he will SURELY find himself over the wrong side of the gate.

The terminology of Infinitive Absolute is opaque and gives no hint of its function. As I have said in the past on this Forum, I consider the Hebrew word as consisting of a root plus personal pronouns (and auxiliary prefixed prepositions), which in my opinion is the essence of Hebrew grammar. In order not to garble the root, the internally inserted pronouns (the 'infixes') are reduced to the bare vowels U (O), I (E), which are the core of the universal pronouns HU), HI).

In Isaiah 22:13 "HAROG BAQAR", HAROG = HAR-HO-G, from the root HRG (related to XRG and XRQ), 'kill', and HO) = HU) referring to a general, unspecified, actor pulling off the act of slaying (notice the subtle difference between HAROG and the QAL passive participle HARUG = HAR-HU-G). This is exactly the function in English of the suffix 'ing' in 'slaying'. Surely the BAQAR, 'ox', did not die unaided; someone intently caused its expiration by some brutal means. In the jussive form HAROG!, the inserted personal pronoun stands for the person being commanded to perform the act.

As an example of a succession of cognates derived from the same root consider the random GADOL TIGDAL constructed out of the strong (stable, complete), root GDL, 'grow'. In this GAD-HO-L the personal pronoun HO) = HU) refers to the the addressee, predicted, or wished, to be in the state of GDL. How will he get there? By virtue of TIGDAL = TI-GDAL, where TI is the personal pronoun AT-HI), referring once more to the predicated listener. Hence the English translation of GADOL TIGDAL is "big you will become", or "big you will grow".

Just think about it; it is nothing short of a miracle that ADAM and EVE understood at all what MUT means, considering the lack of a precedent and their being denied accesses to BDB.

In conclusion, MOT is a state (lying on the back with closed eyes, an idle pulse, a drained brain and a departed spirit), while TAMUT = ATA- MUT is how you (ATA) will get there.

Notice the conceptual affinity of MUT with a TAV and MUT with a TETH.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Apr 4, 2007, at 12:29 AM, Scott McAliley wrote:

I was reading through some archives addressing the infinitive absolute in
Genesis 2:17, trying to find some answers to questions that only Hebrew
students and experts could answer(I am neither of these, by the way). And I
am hoping that someone can give me some insight.
[cut]
Thanks,
Scott McAliley

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