Biblical Hebrew Forum

[David Kummerow <farmerjoeblo AT hotmail.com>]

Hi George,

From memory, I think Tropper argues for a /han-/ morpheme from 
comparative Semitics (Tropper 2001), which, due to the semantics of the 
morphemes involved, is more likely typologically (see Miller 2004).

All of this means that Isaac's claim that dagesh representing gemination 
can be done away without consequence is fallacious -- etymologically, 
phonetically, and morphologically speaking.

Miller, Cynthia L. 2004. “Methodological Issues in Reconstructing 
Language Systems from Epigraphic Fragments.” Pages 281-305 in The Future 
of Biblical Archaeology: Reassessing Methodologies and Assumptions. 
Edited by James K. Hoffmeier and Alan Millard. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Tropper, Josef. 2001. “Die Herausbildung des bestimmten Artikels im 
Semitischen.” Journal of Semitic Studies 46: 1-31.

Regards,
David Kummerow.


> To back up David Kummerow on this one, if you do some comparative 
> linguistics, particularly with Arabic, it is possible that the 
> gemination which is part of the Hebrew article is, in fact, an 
> assimilation of lamed. That is, it could be that the Hebrew article is 
> /Hal-/. The problem is, we have no way of being sure about this in 
> Hebrew, because the article never appears on its own without 
> articulating a substantive of some kind. However, the Arabic parallel is 
> suggestive. The consonant /lam/ in Arabic is often run into the 
> following consonant, producing an effective gemination of that consonant.
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
> GEORGE ATHAS
> Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
> www.moore.edu.au