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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] What does H add?

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  • From: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
  • To: Pere Porta <pporta7 AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: Hebrew List <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] What does H add?
  • Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2011 06:38:59 -0500

First, the rule of rules of Hebrew grammar: A Hebrew word (sans attached prepositions) = root + personal pronouns (identity markers or indicators). The choice and distribution of these markers, within and without the root, and their intended reference, shifts the meaning of the word. Consider YALD-AH ( ילדה = ילד-היא ) from the root YLD. It may mean:
1. YELED-HIY), '( she is) a female child'
2. YALAD-HIY), 'she gave birth'
3. YALAD-HIY), 'her child'
So, OR, 'light', and OR-AH = OR-HIY), 'relief', both from the single- consonant root R, (the initial alef is just a filler, and the internal O is the personal pronoun HU), for the thing itself), are distinct.
The command SUR, from the root SR, contains, in my opinion, an internal HU), namely, ( סור = ס-הוא-ר ), instead of ATAH, for the person to which the command is addressed. The extended form SUR- AH = SUR-HIY) is designed, methinks, to mitigate a command into a polite invitation, kind of SUR-you.
The addition of -AH may shift the meaning to various degrees, as in SIYR, 'pot', versus SIYRAH, 'boat', or $IYR, 'song', versus $IYR-AH, 'poetry, singing'.
This device is extensively used in BH. It is also being often used in MBH (modern biblical Hebrew), since grammatical gender is irrelevant, for instance, BALUT, 'acorn' versus BALUT-AH, 'gland'.

Isaac Fried, Boston university

On Jan 6, 2011, at 12:11 AM, Pere Porta wrote:

Hi, friends.
We find here and there in the biblical text some words that appear in two versions: without H and with H.

1 Nouns:
In Gn 1:3 we have )WR, light; in Est 8:16 we have )WRFH, light.

2. Verbs:
In 2Sa 2:22 we have SWR, turn aside! while in Rt 4:1 we have SWRFH, same meaning.

They appear as being quite and mere synonyms.

My questions are:

1. Are they really synonyms? Does the suffix H introduce some shade into the meaning of the word that has H compared with the word that lacks H?

2. Do you know of other similar pairs, either nouns or verbs?

3. Would there be a good reason for these variants? I mean: maybe some evolution of the language (older writings like Genesis versus newer writings like Esther or 2Samuel versus Ruth) would explain this difference?


What do you think about this?


--
Pere Porta
(Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain)





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