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  • From: David Kummerow <farmerjoeblo AT hotmail.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] David's article
  • Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2007 13:56:07 +1000


Hi Harold,

See a few comments below:



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?

Of course not, but it is understandable under Ehrensvärd's analysis, ie it refers to a known spring.


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.

Yes, but how do we know that that's the case? There is a tension in language between stating things simply and making yourself clearly understood.


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."


But this does not have to be the case. That's the point Ehrensvärd makes. There are in reality such few examples of such usage -- many which can plausibility be understood definitely -- that it is unreasonable to create a whole separate category of usage for them on par with the over 30,000 regular uses as is done in the grammars.


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.


Yes, but generic use is still different to actual examples like Gen 14:13 and Gen 16:7 etc.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard




Regards,
David Kummerow.




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