Biblical Hebrew Forum

[fred burlingame <tensorpath AT gmail.com>]

Hello Isaac:

Thanks for your comments.

1. That is a most important distinction; the difference between:

a. what you "hear;" and

b. what you "know."

So, with ותקם , va-ta-kam, sung or read to you; when you hear past tense:

i. do you hear past tense because that is how you speak/read/write the
language today; or

ii. do you hear past tense because that is how you understand the language
was spoken/read/written then?

regards,

fred burlingame


On Thu, Feb 3, 2011 at 6:23 AM, Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu> wrote:

> 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
>>
>
>