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  • From: James Read <J.Read-2 AT sms.ed.ac.uk>
  • To: Kirk Lowery <kirk AT grovescenter.org>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] the meaning of "et"
  • Date: Sat, 19 Sep 2009 04:50:48 +0100

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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