Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] DIBBER & ELALESEN in Dt 1:1

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>
  • To: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] DIBBER & ELALESEN in Dt 1:1
  • Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2011 10:03:14 +0000

Firstly, Philip, please sign your posts to B-Hebrew with your real full name.

Secondly, I think you may have misunderstood the Piel. It is not 'emphatic'.
None of the Hebrew stems (binyanim) are 'emphatic'. Occasionally, the Piel
(and Pual) might carry an 'intensive' sense if the root of the word normally
occurs in the Qal stem. But this isn't always the case.

The root דבר is actually 'native' to the Piel stem. In other words, the Qal
stem is not its native habitat, and as such, there is no real 'intensive'
element that can be observed in it. It's just a root that occurs in the Piel
stem. Plain and simple. And it happens to mean 'to speak'.

We have the same kind of phenomenon in English, but most native
English-speakers are unaware of it. For example, the words 'break' and
'speak' are in the same 'stem' (cf. how they form the past tense: broke,
spoke). This is a different stem to, say, that which encompasses the words
'become', 'behave', 'believe' and 'bestow'. These words are just native to
particular stems and that's just how it is. It's simply a morphological
thing. It's the same with Hebrew.

The difference that Pere has picked up in the Greek words λαλεω and λεγω is
not really the difference in 'emphasis' you were asking about. They are just
different words with different nuances, much the same as the difference
between 'say' and 'speak' in English. One is more casual, and the other more
formal. You can't really point to one as emphatic while the other is not.
That's simply a product of the semantics, not the verb construction.


GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page