Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Donald Vance <donaldrvance AT mac.com>]

James,
Whether it is a construct is nor a question of how one would translate  
it. The "status conctructus" is a state of a substantive wherein the  
accent is lost (moved to the last word of the chain for all practical  
purposes) and every syllable is treated as distant (vowels reduce to  
schwa if the syllable is open and stay short if the syllable is  
closed--long only if an unchangeably long) and a construct ending is  
applied (if m pl or f s). Since HRRM ends in either a m pl absolute  
ending or with a 3 m pl genitive suffix (making HRR status  
pronominalis--forgive the butchered Latin), it cannot be in the  
construct state by definition. As for translation, "mountains, Seir"  
if we go with a plural understanding, or "their mountain(s), Seir" if  
we go with a gen. sx.

None of my comments should be interpreted as endorsing Jim's views. I  
simply objected to the condescending tone in your post and in those of  
Jim and Karl, for that matter. Is that really necessary?

Sent from my iPhone

Donald R. Vance
donaldrvance AT mac.com

On May 4, 2010, at 1:58 AM, James Christian  
<jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com> wrote:

> So, how would you translate it then? I can see no other logical
> interpretation.
>
> James Christian
>
> On 4 May 2010 09:17, George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au> wrote:
>
> > It’s a simple example of apposition, James. It’s not a  
> > construct. As Don
> > pointed out, no pronominal suffix may attach to a word in  
> > construct. That
> > fact alone tells us that בהררם is NOT in construct. It is in  
> > the status
> > pronominalis, which is the state of a noun taking a pronominal  
> > suffix.
> >
> >
> > GEORGE ATHAS
> > Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
> > www.moore.edu.au
> >
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