Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>]

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)