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  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] David's article
  • Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 22:14:09 -0500

Dear David,

Here is Ehrensvärd's sixth example, taken from Gen 16:7:

(6) The angel of the Lord found Hagar near the spring [(YN HM] ("Spring of water") in
the desert, the spring by the road to Shur (Gen 16,7)
This was probably a known spring, and in addition, it is a case of
cataphoric 15 reference: “the spring in the desert, [i.e.] the spring by
the road to Shur”.

The problem with this argument is that the biblical author would start by saying "by the spring of water in the wilderness." Is he saying that there was only one spring in the entire wilderness? I highly doubt it but that's what the words would imply. If he clarifies "by the spring of water in the wilderness" with "by the spring beside the road to Shur," he seems to be excessively wordy. It seems he could have just said "by the spring in the wilderness beside the road to Shur." A certain indefiniteness can explain his otherwise repetitive wording: "by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring beside the road to Shur."

It seems to me that it is the capacity of the Hebrew article to express a generic idea for cases where in English we'd use the indefinite that allows for a certain indefiniteness (a generic quality) to these examples treated by Ehrensvärd.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard





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