Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Randall Buth <randallbuth AT gmail.com>]

>> >Genesis 1:3 “and there was light (light came into existence)” yiqtol.

>> wyhy is not a yiqtol. That would have been (w) yhyh
>
> Does the prefixed waw indicate a difference in conjugation?

Actually, it is the verb form itself, yehi versus yihyeh.
That was then frozen with 'wa'.

> It is my understanding that Rolf’s dissertation found no difference in 
> meaning between those yiqtols that have that prefix and those without. I, 
> too, don’t see a difference.

Just because a hunter sees no deer doesn't mean that there aren't any
in the forest. Success can also depend on how they look. As you
yourself speculated, another student probably wouldn't find aspect if
they used Rolf's methods.


> Here the question is not the MT, but what does the MT mean?

Actually, the MT is part of the evidence.
The MT distinguishes wayyaqtel from yaqtiyl.


> “'aspect' is ultimately subjective”??? Doesn’t that undermine claims of 
> objectivity in linguistic studies?

Deal with it.
You need to objectively deal with the subjectivity of human communication.
Consider: a girl walked her dog from 8am to 9am. A person can
subjectively choose to look at the whole event "yesterday she walked
her dog." or to look at the event without borders: "yesterday she was
walking her dog." The event doesn't change, only the presentation.
Consider the pet owner's friend during the same 8-9 am time frame:
"Yesterday she came into town." vs. "Yesterday she was coming into town."

>> Most Semitists view the wayyiqtol structure as a perfective,
>> among other things, and not as an imperfective.
>
> Yet you admit that it is possible that most can be wrong.

yes. Just like it is also possible that most can be right.
The LXX, targumim, Syriac, MT, all broadly testify
that the wayyiqtol was perfective rather than imperfective.

Hope that helped. Maybe you can prepare to read wayhi
and wayyar (Gen 1.3-4, both without final 'h')
differently from yihyeh and ya`aleh (both with
final 'h', Gen 2.5-6)
and then you will better appreciate the subjective nuance of
the writer's objective signal at
Gen 2.25 lo yitboshashu ("they were not being afraid . . .")
versus (*)lo hitboshashu ("they were not afraid.")

Delightful, how they write the story.

--
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicalulpan.org
randallbuth AT gmail.com
Biblical Language Center
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