Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

I have asked my trusted friend and confidant Duvidle Green for some  
counsel, and this is what he had to say about the strangeness of  
EDOTEYKA עֵדְו‍ֹתֶיךָ of Ne. 9:34:

1. Strangely enough, it is of the single-consonant root D, as is OD,  
'more', and ADAD, 'uplift', (see in Ps.20:9), with ADAD being a  
variant of AZAZ, and A$A$, 'alert'.

2. It is with the strange plural marker OT = HU-AT reserved for  
girls, possibly to remove it from EDIYM = ED-HEM, 'witnesses'. The  
feminine plural EDOT is practically non existent.

3. Then says D. G. this: The OT marker removes the possibility of  
'your witnesses', but what is this strange EY stuck there after  OT.  
This, he says, in his (almost) infinite wisdom, is possibly the  
ancient plural marker II = HI-HI preserved now only as an attachment,  
as in XALONEY, 'windows', of 1 Ki. 6:4.

4. Strangely enough, for the possessive, Hebrew uses the obsolete  
(preserved in truncated form only as an attachment) personal pronoun  
AKAH (as in ANOKIY) instead of the, now common, ATAH.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Feb 8, 2012, at 7:58 PM, Nir cohen - Prof. Mat. wrote:

> isaac,
>
> ditto in the same chapter Neh 9:34. ben gurion would have a nasty
> comment on that.
>
> לד  וְאֶת-מְלָכֵינוּ שָׂרֵינוּ  
> כֹּהֲנֵינוּ וַאֲבֹתֵינוּ, לֹא  
> עָשׂוּ תּוֹרָתֶךָ; וְלֹא  
> הִקְשִׁיבוּ, אֶל-מִצְו‍ֹתֶיךָ,
> וּלְעֵדְו‍ֹתֶיךָ, אֲשֶׁר  
> הַעִידֹתָ בָּהֶם. 34
>
> neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers,  
> kept Thy
> law, nor hearkened unto Thy commandments and Thy testimonies,  
> wherewith Thou
> didst testify against them.
>
> the word Thy testimonies (ED:OTEIKA is also strange.
>
> nir cohen