Biblical Hebrew Forum

[fred putnam <fred.putnam AT gmail.com>]

Dear Olivier,

Good question!

Hendiadys is a phenomenon of general human thought and language; it is not
restricted or special to the biblical writings. Identifying a hendiadys is
more of an art than a science, and not everyone agrees that every pair is or
is not a hendiadys.

There are probably two primary kinds hendiadys: "parallel" and
"complementary".

In parallel hendiadys two verbs, nouns, or other forms together refer to a
single entity or idea, as though the thing referred to were divided into its
two main components, e.g., "ladies and gentlemen" (= everyone here present),
"going out and coming in" (= all the affairs of life).

But not everyone agrees. Some biblical scholars see, for example, "heaven[s]
and earth" (Gn 1.1) as a hendiadys for "everything" or as the biblical way
of referring to what we now call the "universe", others view them as
identifying the basic components of our physical--earth and sky--without any
reference beyond human sense apprehension.

In complementary hendiadys two verbal forms have the same conjugation
["tense"], subject (person, gender, number), and are linked by a conjunction
(W-); they do not need to have the same stem/binyan. The first verbal
modifies the second. MHR and $KM can mean "do X quickly" and "do X early in
the morning", respectively, HLK can mean "do X more and more [or
continually]", and $WB can mean "do X again" ("X" = the second verbal). This
does not mean that MHR, $KM, HLK, and $WB do have their "regular" or
"normal" function, but rather that they may sometimes modify another verb.

I hope that this is helpful.

Peace.

Fred


Dear Putnam,

I am glad to get your reply, but may I bother you a little bit? Could you
tell me please how do you recognize that such occurence is a hendiadys or
not. Are you using software or book or this is becase of your good knowledge
of biblical hebrew?

Thanks for your helps

Best regards,

Olivier Randrianjaka

On Sun, Feb 8, 2009 at 5:26 PM, fred putnam <fred.putnam AT gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear Olivier,
>
> Thanks for your note.
>
> I've glanced quickly at occurrences of CHESED ... WEMETH with eight words
> of each other in a single v. (28 occurrences). Their use suggests that they
> can be considered a word-pair, even though (as you point out) they normally
> primarily as a hendiadys (23xx), since they also occur five times as
> parallel terms in synonymously parallel lines (Pss 57.11; 69.14; 108.5;
> 117.2; Is 16.5); perhaps we should add Josh 2.12 to this list, even though
> its parallel clauses are not poetic lines.
>
> So perhaps they were primarily a hendiadys that could also be split between
> parallel lines so that they functioned as a word-pair (again, as the latter
> term has come to be used).
>
> Great question!
>
> Peace.
>
> Fred
>
> On Sun, Feb 8, 2009 at 2:44 AM, Olivier Randrianjaka 
> <rev_oli AT hotmail.com>wrote:
>
>>  Fred Putnam,
>>
>> Thank you for your contribution, I am quite brand new in this and I am
>> wondering according to your explanation whether paired words like CHESED
>> WEMETH, which is sometimes should be translated as a "hendiadys" are also
>> classified as word pairs.
>> Thanks for your helps.
>>
>> Olivier Randrianjaka
>>
>> > Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2009 19:07:22 -0500
>> > From: fred.putnam AT gmail.com
>> > To: l_barre AT yahoo.com
>> > CC: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org; steve AT voiceinwilderness.info
>>
>> > Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Word pairs in biblical and semitic literatures
>> >
>> > Dear Lloyd,
>> >
>> > Word-pairs tend to occur in parallel poetic lines, as you suggest, and
>> the
>> > pairs that you list from Pr 10.1b-c are, of course, semanticaly parallel
>> > pairs *in this verse*, but this is not really the way that the term has
>> come
>> > to be used in the study of ANE poetry (on which see my earlier post).
>> >
>> > To use the same example, "wise/foolish" and "father/mother" are
>> word-pairs,
>> > since they occur together, and in this order, not infrequently in the
>> Bible.
>> >
>> > But are "makes glad" and "heaviness" a word-pair? [I cite the same
>> version
>> > for consistency.] The piel of SMX [Sorry--I don't have my
>> transliteration
>> > scheme to hand.] occurs 26xx (times) in Biblical Hebrew (15 of which are
>> in
>> > Pss/8xx & Pro/7xx--it is a more-or-less "poetic" form). None of its
>> > occurences parallel TWGH, apart from Pr 10.1. Even in Jer 31.13, where
>> the
>> > "mourning", "joy", "sorrow", "rejoicing", &c. occur--with several
>> "slots"
>> > into which TWGH would seem to fit--it does not occur. This suggests
>> quite
>> > strongly that the verb SMX and noun TWGH are not a word-pair.
>> >
>> > TWGH occurs only 4xx (Ps 119.28 (no parallel); Pr 10.1; 14.13; 17.21),
>> so
>> > there is not much evidence upon which to identify them as a pair.
>> >
>> > On the other hand, TWGH is either the predicate or subject of Pr 14.13b,
>> > where it occurs with--but does not parallel--the noun SMXH; in Pr 17.21
>> it
>> > parallels the qal of SMX, but their order is opposite that of Pr 10.1
>> (TWGH
>> > in 17.21a, qal of SMX in 17.21b). While this implies that these roots
>> were
>> > understood as antonyms--SMX is negated in order to create a synonymous
>> > parallelism--it does not establish their identity as a word-pair; there
>> is
>> > not a large enough sampling to draw this conclusion.
>> >
>> > I hope that this makes sense.
>> >
>> > Thanks for asking, Steve--this is an interesting line of conversation.
>> >
>> > Peace.
>> >
>> > Fred
>> >
>> > On Sat, Feb 7, 2009 at 6:06 PM, LM Barre <l_barre AT yahoo.com> wrote:
>> >
>> > > Words used in parallel members--matching subject, verbs, objects,
>> > > adjectives etc.
>> > >
>> > > A wise son maketh a glad father:
>> > > but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.
>> > >
>> > > "Wise son" is paired with "foolish son," "maketh glad" is paired with
>> > > "heaviness" and "father" is paired with "mother."
>> > >
>> > > Lloyd Barré
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > --- On Sat, 2/7/09, Steve Miller <smille10 AT sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>> > >
>> > > From: Steve Miller <smille10 AT sbcglobal.net>
>> > > Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Word pairs in biblical and semitic literatures
>> > > To: "'b-hebrew Forum'" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
>> > > Date: Saturday, February 7, 2009, 1:16 AM
>> > >
>> > > Can someone please explain: What is a word-pair? Thanks.
>> > >
>> > > Sincerely,
>> > > -Steve Miller
>> > > Detroit
>> > > www.voiceInWilderness.info
>> > > And I saw: and behold, a black horse, and he that sat upon it having a
>> > > balance in his hand. And I heard as a voice in the midst of the four
>> > > living
>> > > creatures saying, A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts
>> of
>> > > barley for a day's wages: and do not injure the oil and the wine. (Rev
>> > > 6:5b-6)
>> > > The chariot in which are the black horses goes forth into the land of
>> the
>> > > north. (Zech 6:6a)
>> > > > -----Original Message-----
>> > > > From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-hebrew-
>> > > > bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of James Spinti
>> > > > Sent: Friday, February 06, 2009 12:30 PM
>> > > > To: b-hebrew Forum
>> > > > Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Word pairs in biblical and semitic
>> literatures
>> > > >
>> > > >
>> > > > Not terribly recent, but have you looked at the 3 volumes of Ras
>> Shamra
>> > > > Parallels from Biblical Institute Press?
>> > > >
>> > > > HTH,
>> > > > James
>> > > > ________________________________
>> > > > James Spinti
>> > > > Marketing Director, Book Sales Division
>> > > > Eisenbrauns, Good books for more than 30 years
>> > > > Specializing in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Studies
>> > > > jspinti at eisenbrauns dot com
>> > > > Web: http://www.eisenbrauns.com
>> > > > Phone: 574-269-2011 ext 226
>> > > > Fax: 574-269-6788
>> > > >
>> > > > -----Original Message-----
>> > > > From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-hebrew-
>> > > > bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Olivier Randrianjaka
>> > > > Sent: Friday, February 06, 2009 12:53 AM
>> > > > To: george.athas AT moore.edu.au; b-hebrew Forum
>> > > > Subject: [b-hebrew] Word pairs in biblical and semitic literatures
>> > > >
>> > > >
>> > > > Hi all of you!!I am looking for the most recent works concerning
>> Word
>> > > > pairs studies in Biblical as well as in ancient Semitic literatures,
>> CAN
>> > > > ANYONE HELP?Thanks a lot. Olivier RandrianjakaPhD Student atMission
>> > > School
>> > > > and TheologyStavanger, Norway
>> > > > _________________________________________________________________
>> > >
>> > > _______________________________________________
>> > > b-hebrew mailing list
>> > > b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
>> > > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > _______________________________________________
>> > > b-hebrew mailing list
>> > > b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
>> > > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>> > >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > --)---------------
>> >
>> > Fred Putnam
>> >
>> > Philadelphia Biblical University
>> >
>> > 215-702-4502 (office/voicemail)
>> > 215-393-9683 (home)
>> > www.fredputnam.org (website)
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > b-hebrew mailing list
>> > b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
>> > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> --)---------------
>
> Fred Putnam
>
> Philadelphia Biblical University
>
> 215-702-4502 (office/voicemail)
> 215-393-9683 (home)
> www.fredputnam.org (website)
>
>


-- 
--)---------------

Fred Putnam

Philadelphia Biblical University

215-702-4502 (office/voicemail)
215-393-9683 (home)
www.fredputnam.org (website)