Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Randall Buth <randallbuth AT gmail.com>]

>In first Chronicles 17:11, we have:
וַהֲכִינֹותִי
Which is hifil, and in 17:12, we have
וְכֹנַנְתִּי
Which is po[l]el.>

With konanti and hakinoti you have two words
that are synonyms, and with synonyms in a language
one finds overlap of use and meaning as well as divergeance.
Both of these words can be used with setting up a government.
The more narrow of the two may be le-xonen (using
an infinitive as the name for discussion) for setting up, founding,
strengthening, building, though it is used for 'arming' a bow and
arrow, and even as a metaphor for intention (Is 51.13). But it is
not the word for more general 'preparation', 'doing something
ahead of time'.
le-haxin (using common fricative pronunication) is used more
broadly and includes things that are 'arranged ahead-of-time/
prepared', Zef 1.7, 2Chr 29.36, and frequently with food, 1Chr
9.32, 12.40, Gen 43.16, Ex 16.5, Pr 6.8, etc.,
but also includes founding, fixing, and strenthening.
It too can be used on 'intention/direction' (Ezk 4.3)
A sister word is naxon with a wide range of meaning from
'stable, standing upright, correct, prepared/ready'.

Despite the wide, but not complete overlap, some things should
not be done. *kan *yaxun "la-*xun" is not a word in Hebrew
(though common in Arabic as 'be') and would not have meant
'establish' in any case. Taking a root and pielizing it or
hifilizing it is to make an etymological projection about what
a word might mean, if it existed. But once a word is created and
takes hold, its meaning depends on how the language
community uses it. For example, in this case, the meaning
'prepare' goes with le-haxin, and was used with food, not
because the grammar forced it, but because that is how the word
was used by the community. Afterwards, explaining how it developed
is fine, but assuming that the 'root +hif`il' inherently
meant and had to mean this is the etymological fallacy, endemic to
our field because of prevailing pedagogies. (Very few learn the
language from contextual usage, most are trained to make abstract
projections. For several pedagogical reasons, students would be
better off learning 'higgid' and 'hishlik' before they ever learn
about 'hif`ils'.).

In your context of 1 Chr 17:11-12, the first use vahaxinoti seems
to refer to the setting up, expecially in parallel to le-haqim,
while the second use ve-xonanti with a metanomy of 'chair'
becomes the further establishment, fixing and
preservation. As George pointed out, there is not alot of difference
between these two synomyms in this context but having two
words allows a little bit of literary diversification for the author.

As a principle of language learning, it is best to learn each word
in a separate, clear context, so that later one can read them both
when they come together without dissolving into each other.
As an extreme example, illustrating the process,
consider English, "while overseeing the project he overlooked
the oversight". One does not want these words to 'short circuit'
and to 'touch each other' in their storage in our brains.
One should learn the words separately, first. Why? because
'oversee' should not be directly linked with 'oversight', at least not in
one's head. Nor can one predict the meanings of 'oversee' and
'overlook' from their roots.

hope that helps
randall
-- 
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicalulpan.org
randallbuth AT gmail.com
Biblical Language Center
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