Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Philip:

My first answer did not really address mood, rather the use of the
didactic question (which is sometimes posed as a riddle, but “riddle”
is an incorrect default translation for XYDH).

I went back to Psalm 24 and noted that the question is in Yiqtol
grammaticalization. Now I was taught in class that the Yiqtal stands
for the imperfective aspect, and the Qatal for the perfective aspect.
I never questioned those until a couple of days ago, where I threw out
a question if these grammaticalizations refer to mood instead of
aspect? That the Qatal stands for “fixed” or dominant, indicative
mood, while the Yiqtol for “unfixed” or subordinate to the dominant,
subjunctive or optative mood? What would this understanding do to the
Weqatal (this is the first time I wished for a fancy Bible program
like Accordance that could help me find grammatical constructs)? Does
this make the Wayyiqtol continuation as in narration what happened
next, or in ideas what what is the next concept? (These are just
preliminary questions, and I could be wrong.)

To sum up the above paragraph, you may be right that the didactic
question is in a subjunctive or optative mood, but that won’t made a
major difference in the use of the didactic question.

Karl W. Randolph.

On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 3:41 AM, Phil Sumpter<philsumpter AT hotmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Karl,
>
> if Ps 24:3-5 is a XYDH riddle, then would you translate the verbs as "who 
> >would be< allowed to ascend ..." (rather than "who is allowed")? It seems 
> to me that if it is a riddle of some sort, designed to motivate someone to 
> think about the answer, the mood would be subjunctive and not indicative.
>
> Philip Sumpter
>
> http://narrativeandontology.blogspot.com/