Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>]

A few possible suggestions:

(1) It actually adds a subjunctive element to the verb. However, I'm not convinced by this, because it seems limited to otherwise vocalic subject suffixes on prefix conjugations.

(2) It's just a throwback to an older form.

I believe this second option is the more likely. It does appear rather randomly, seemingly a lot like the optional nu Greek. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not. It could be, at least occasionally, a deliberate archaism to give speech a bit of an 'olden day' feel — somewhat akin to me using some ye olde style forms that perchance getteth mine message across. However, I'm not sure if that adequately explains all the occurrences. A random archaic leftover seems more plausible methinks.

GEORGE ATHAS

Dean of Research,

Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)

Sydney, Australia