Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

1. Grammaticalization made the language ever more formal and rigid,  
yet, WA-YI-$LAX essentially means (it come to pass that)-(he)-(send).
2, "qatal' is just short for he-qatal-him, the past being the  
"natural" tense for an act.
3. I don't give a hoot for the opinion of "mainstream" educators,  
book sellers and academics. They are to me the ox snugly following  
the rut.
4. The letter B is the root of BA, 'come, be, exist, have substance'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Jan 29, 2011, at 8:54 PM, fred burlingame wrote:

> Hello Isaac:
>
> Your comments are most interesting.
>
> If you are correct, the lengthy hebrew verb charts; and the  
> related, differentiation between yiqtol and qatal forms on the  
> basis of tense and aspect .... all of that would become but  
> illusion. The average 500 b.c., or 500 a.d., consumer of this  
> language would understand neither the current hebrew verb charts;  
> or any separation of "yiqtol" and "qatal" forms into different  
> tenses or aspects.
>
> The personal pronouns attached as suffix and prefix to hebrew  
> verbs, represent just that ... and no more ...; contractions from  
> larger words? Tense and aspect need to be inferred, if at all, from  
> context of other and surrounding words and verses.
>
> I cannot imagine mainstream educators, book sellers and academics  
> in general ... meeting and greeting your opinions here.
>
> But then again, the masoretic text verb usage doesn't appear to fit  
> within the nice, well defined, categories of yiqtol and qatal for  
> tense and aspect differentiation.
>
> http://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/5564_5860.pdf
>
> I am also interested in your description of the single root letter  
> ב (bet) as having a base meaning of "to be" or "happen?" Is that  
> correct? If so, how do you arrive at that conclusion for this root.
>
> I appreciate your help.
>
> regards,
>
> fred burlingame
>
> On Sat, Jan 29, 2011 at 6:48 PM, Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu> wrote:
> The Hebrew word (sans attached prepositions) consists of a root 
> +personal pronouns (or identity markers, which are universal  
> temporary names used to identify the actors or things referred to).  
> In the word A-XEL, the letter A is, in my opinion, a remnant of  
> ANIY, identifying the speaker as the perpetrator of the act XEL. In  
> the word W-XAL-U the last U is in my opinion a truncated HU),  
> identifying the receivers (HA-AM-IYM) of the act XAL. The  
> preposition W is in my opinion a variant of the root B or BA, 'to  
> be, to happen'.
>
> Isaac Fried, Boston University