Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>]

Pere,

It appears to me that the form TIY is but the compressed combination  
of the personal pronouns AT-HI. It is used in place of ANI = AN-HI in  
such forms as RAXAC-TI = RAXAC-ATI = RAXAC-ANI, 'I washed (it)', in  
order , I think, to differentiate it from the accusative RXAC-ANI,  
'(he) washed me'. A verb followed by a personal pronoun is chosen in  
Hebrew to indicate past action, to wit:
RAXAC-TI = RAXAC-ATI, I washed
RAXAC-TA = RAXAC-ATA, you (male, singular) washed
RAXAC-T = RAXAC-AT, you (female, singular) washed
RAXAC, he washed
RAXAC-AH = RAXAC-HI, she washed
RAXAC-NU = RAXAC-ANU, we washed
RAXAC-TEM = RAXAC-ATEM, you (male, plural) washed
RAXAC-TEN = RAXAC-ATEN, you (female, plural) washed
RAXAC-U = RAXAC-HU, they washed,
while a personal pronoun followed by a verb is selected in Hebrew to  
indicate intended action, to wit:
TI-RXAC, you (male, singular) will wash
TI-RXAC-YI = TI-RXAC-HI, you (female, singular) will wash
etc.
To indicate membership in a group, Hebrew adds a personal pronoun  
standing for the member to the group's name, for example ISRAELI =  
ISRAEL-HI for a male Israelite = Israel-ite, and ISRAELIT = ISRAEL-HI- 
AT for female Israelite. If a name ends already in a personal pronoun  
(or what appears to be a personal pronoun) such as the city of (AZAH  
= AZ-HA = AZ-HI, 'the strong one', Hebrew will drop the -H and  
substitute ATI for it, to wit: HA-(AZA-TIY of Joshua 13:3. Instead of  
ATI the personal pronoun ANI may also be used as in AXIYAH HA-$IYLO- 
NIY, 'Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh', mentioned in 1 Kings 11:29.
Prersent day Hebrew makes extensive use of the feminine ending IYT as  
a diminutive, for instance, QAP, 'table spoon', but QAPIYT = QAP-HI- 
AT, 'tea spoon'. ATI is also extensively used in reference to a  
property holder, for instance, from (EDAH, 'community', Hebrew  
derives (ADATIY, 'communal, ethnic', and then (ADATIYUT = (AD-AT-HI- 
HU-AT.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Jun 12, 2007, at 3:51 AM, <pporta AT oham.net> <pporta AT oham.net> wrote:

> Dear listers,
>
> Does any of you know if in biblical Hebrew a word ending -TIY can/ 
> may be
> something different from a 1st person singular of the past tense?
>
> Pere Porta
>
> _______________________________________________
> b-hebrew mailing list
> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew