Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Read <J.Read-2 AT sms.ed.ac.uk>]

Hi,

Quoting Kirk Lowery <kirk AT grovescenter.org>:

> Steve Miller wrote:
>
> > Does the particle "et" (alef tav) have an English meaning?
> >
> > Can it only relate a verb to a noun, or can it relate noun to noun like an
> > English preposition?
>
> 't is a homonym with two separate lexical lemmas according to the   
> standard lexicons:
>
> 1. 'et - the marker of the definite direct object or accusative case (not
> translatable)

I wouldn't say it was not translatable. Maybe it isn't translatable  
with an equivalent word in English. Most often we translate it  
(insofar as the English idiom allows) with an equivalent noun phrase  
in a position in the English sentence which conveys an accusative  
sense to the reader.

Other languages, which have not yet lost their case system, like  
Slavonic languages and Germanic languages convey the meaning of the  
't-noun structure with an equivalent noun phrase declined in the  
accusative.

The question arises as to whether 't was actually a separate word  
(deserving of a space in the MT) or was an actual prefix indicative of  
case. Of course, all of this is completely arbitrary because speech  
signals have no spaces and where we choose to put the spaces on the  
page is decided by and large by convention.

James Christian

> 2. 'et (or /'itt-/ - the preposition "with"
>
> As usual, context will determine which is meant in a specific location.
>
> Blessings,
>
> Kirk
> --
> Kirk E. Lowery, PhD
> President & Senior Research Fellow
> The J. Alan Groves Center for Advanced Biblical Research
> --
> "While religion prescribes brotherly love in the relations among
> the individuals and groups, the actual spectacle more resembles
> a battlefield than an orchestra."
>                                          -- Albert Einstein
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