Biblical Hebrew Forum

[dwashbur AT nyx.net]

It refers to the absolutistic approach to the forms that one usually finds in 
the first-year
grammars and classes: the qal means this, the pi`el means that, the wayyiqtol 
means this,
the qatal means that.  It's only later on that the average Hebrew student 
learns the truth: we
frankly don't know what most of those forms mean, we're still in the process 
of sussing it all
out, but those first-year lies give us a basis for learning what the forms 
look like, nothing
more.  "Early-learning oversimplifications" is probably a more precise term 
for it, but "first-
year lies" is not only easier to say, but more fun.

On 8 Oct 2009 at 19:08, Gerry Folbre wrote:

> Dave:
> I am not familiar with the phrase, "first-year lies".  What does it
> mean or
> apply to.
> Gerry Folbre
>
> On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 7:00 PM, <dwashbur AT nyx.net> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > On 8 Oct 2009 at 18:25, Gerry Folbre wrote:
> >
> > > Randall wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > "This appears to unintentionally promote an etymological
> fallacy
> > > about
> > > pi``el.
> > >
> > > the distinguishing mark of a "pi``el" verb in a Semitic language
> is
> > > not its
> > > semantic context but its phonetic shape. It is the
> vowel-consonant
> > > pattern
> > > the marks the word, and if the writing system doesn't show
> that,
> > > -- well, that's too bad."
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > According to Robert K. Logan, "The first proto-alphabetic
> scripts
> > > ... had no
> > > provisions for vowels or vocalization.  Reading a script
> correctly
> > > was a
> > > matter of good guesswork guided by context" (The Alphabet
> Effect,
> > > pg. 38)
> > >
> > > Paleo Hebrew and New Aramaic Hebrew were both written without
> vowels
> > > and
> > > vocalization points prior to the Masoretic Texts {sixth to the
> > > ninth
> > > centuries AD).  When the vowel points and vocalization marks
> of
> > > the
> > > Masoretic Hebrew Tanakh are removed, the reading text, Qare´,
> > > ceases to
> > > exist, leaving us only the ancient Kethib {consonantal} text.
> > > Therefore,
> > > reading the Hebrew Kethib {consonantal} text correctly would be
> a
> > > matter of
> > > "good guesswork guided by context."
> > >
> > > Do you not agree?
> >
> > Are you familiar with the phrase "first-year lies"?
> >
> > Dave Washburn
> >
> > http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur <http://www.nyx.net/%7Edwashbur>
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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Dave Washburn

http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur