Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

0. They are not "explanatory comments", only my opinions on the matter.
1. If you mean the verb VA-TA-QAM, 'was so-she-wake up', I hear it as  
past (because of the frontally attached verb VA = BA), but I know it  
is timeless: she did it, she does it, and she will keep doing it.
3. Yes, context is important, and also external time markers.
4. The "sleeper" property is the SADE, 'field', that the E$-ET XAIYL  
contrived, ZAMM-AH, to buy, and actually acquired (the banker trusts  
her and gives her a mortgage at the best possible rate, etc.)

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Feb 2, 2011, at 9:27 PM, fred burlingame wrote:

> Hello Isaac:
>
> Thanks for your explanatory comments.
>
> So, I see in exodus 15:1, the pp + verb could, ( but in the absence  
> of need or want ), does not in this instance, designate future  
> tense. Rather it evokes past tense in this particular case.
>
> It seems that we have two tools in the tool chest for directing  
> tense forward or backward. And only context, and actual usage of  
> the verb, will determine what tense we see.
>
> I don't know the "sleeper properties" to which you refer?
>
> regards,
>
> fred burlingame
>
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 2, 2011 at 7:16 PM, Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu> wrote:
> 1. Gramaticalization merely means the arbitrary designating of such  
> combinations as pp+verb to have the grammatical form of a future  
> action. Hence TA-B-IY is essentially: she-B-it = she-bring-it.
> 2. I don't divide a word into syllables, I only separate the  
> prefixes and suffixes from the body of the verb. The root of ZAMMAH  
> is ZMM, and AH is 'she'.
> 3. A "sleeper" property is a good, yet an unassuming, property, not  
> calling attention to itself, which can acquired under favorable  
> conditions.
> 4. We are in agreement. pp+verb indicates future action only if you  
> want it, or need it, to represent future action. Ex. 15:1 opens  
> with AZ YA-$IYR MO$E, where YA-$IYR is but he-sing, namely: then he- 
> sing, moses.
> 5. MELEL is a mouthful, MALE) of words. It is related to to MLIYL- 
> AH of Deut. 23:36.
>
> Isaac Fried, Boston University