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  • From: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
  • To: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Definite Article 7:14
  • Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2007 08:35:04 -0400

Harold,

The grammatical issue with instances such as Genesis 18:7 hinges on the fact that HA-NA(AR, 'the servant' is not mentioned earlier. But an earlier mention does not amount to a definition. I see it as all starting with English grammarians inventing the "definite" article, with this "definiteness" growing in time to assume a life of its own, as is often the case with suggestive terminology. Often an "a/the" choice is not for a 0/1 situation of all or nothing, for a sharp indefinite/definite cut, but for a gradual scale of intermediate degrees of some narrow sense category nested within a wider sense category.
The Hebrew author [we consider the question now in the intra sense of Joseph Wallack] could have avoided the HA- of HA-NA(AR by referring to the servant as NA(AR )EXAD, or NA(AR MI-N(ARAW, but this would improperly imply that he gave it randomly and in a disorganized manner to a servant that just haphazardly happened to pass by. The HA- is meaningful in indicating that Abraham gave it deliberately and thoughtfully to a servant specifically summoned, or whose duty it specifically was [the cook?], to dress the calf. Hence it appears to me that the proper translation of HA-NA(AR is "the appointed servant", raising thereby the servant to a greater degree of certainty and determination, and not an insignificant and arbitrary "a servant" within Abraham's household as most of them do.
I notice that Luther translates )EL HA-NA(AR as "dem Knechte" [dem = to him?] using the dative form of their definite article.
I see that Martin Ehrensvaerd proposes [relying, I understand, on some Arabic usage] to regard HA-NA(AR as "his servant", which still does not raise the specificity of the identification by one small degree over "a servant".

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Jun 26, 2007, at 8:12 PM, Harold Holmyard wrote:

Dear Isaac,


Just a brief remark. HA-RA(EB of Isaiah 29:8 is "he who is famished".
Notice that this translation does not contain one single "the".

Thanks. This example is not in Ehrensvärd's article, but the author
would probably treat it as a generic use of the definite article.
David's point would be that the person here is a generalized person, a
hypothetical person, while the person in Isa 7:14 seems to be a specific
person, as is the person in Gen 14:13. So in my thinking, these last
cases appear to be a special use of the generic article where the
quality of the person is emphasized and the person is unidentified, even
though it is in fact a specific individual or thing.

I would have to study the rest of Ehrensärd's article more carefully,
but he still came across examples he could not really account for. He
also had to discount some as misprints or "non-functional" uses of the
article or put them in categories different than English usage or in
usages unlike English.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard


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