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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Ecc 12:6: BWR

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  • From: "K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
  • To: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Ecc 12:6: BWR
  • Date: Sun, 6 Apr 2008 23:58:18 -0700

Pere:

On Sun, Apr 6, 2008 at 8:45 PM, <pporta AT oham.net> wrote:
>
> It is not me, Karl, who rules out the Niphal use of RWC. Dictionaries or
> lexicons I have at hand --of biblical Hebrew as well as of modern Hebrew-
> are ruling it out.
> Is it possible that, as regards this issue, these dictionaries are
> mistaken?
>
> Pere
>

The short answer, "Yes."

The long answer, as I indicated in my last message, is that if RWC can be
used in a transitive manner, then the niphal is possible.

To give another example:

"He rolls on the floor" intransitive use, equivalent to qal.

"He rolls the ball" transitive use, equivalent to qal.

"The ball is rolled" transitive use, actor not mentioned, equivalent to
niphal.

Because "roll" can be used in a transitive manner, the passive (niphal) is
possible. If RWC can be used in a transitive manner, i.e. with an object,
then the passive (niphal) is possible.

As for the possibility that dictionaries are mistaken, the reason I got into
lexicography was because as I was reading Tanakh, I came across examples
where the definitions given in the dictionaries I had at the time (Gesenius,
BDB) did not match the context of the text that I was reading. Some of the
times I came to the realization that the dots indicating vocalizations are
wrong, some of the times the only conclusion was that the definitions in the
dictionaries are wrong. But because I was reading only for personal reasons
and not part of scholarly polemic, I did not keep detailed records of those
disagreements.

So the long answer is, "Yes, it is possible that the dictionaries that you
reference are mistaken."

Karl W. Randolph.




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