Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

A few responses:

1. Many nouns are derived from verbal roots. But I don't know statistically how many verbs this covers within the biblical corpus. But you're right, Pere, in that many nouns have nothing to do with verbs. It sounds like Karl acknowledged this.
2. Segolate or segholate. But not shegolate. But hey, we all make mitsakes. :P And these days, my autocorrect function often doesn't get things eight. :P
3. Segolate spelling has nothing to do with Qal Qatal verbs. Segolates are derived from original monosyllabic nouns of the form QaTL, QiTL, or QoTL. That is, there was one vowel and the noun originally ended in a consonant cluster. Since Biblical Hebrew doesn't like consonant cluster, the forms developed to divide the consonant cluster, but the stress on the originally vowel after the first consonant was retained. This is why segolates have an early stress (eg. מַלְךְ became מֶ֫לֶךְ). This kind of declusterisation (did I just invent a word?) is also evident in some verb form. For example, Hiphil Jussive יַרְבְּ has developed into יֶ֫רֶב. Not all segolates have two segols. The vowel combination depends on the class of the original vowel (A, I, or O), and whether there are any guttural consonants in the segolate. Thus, אֹרַח is an O-class sego late (the form was originally אָרְחְ — with a short O-class vowel, qames hatuf).

GEORGE ATHAS

Dean of Research,

Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)

Sydney, Australia

From: Pere Porta <pporta7 AT gmail.com>
Date: Wednesday, 28 November 2012 5:22 PM
To: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [b-hebrew] Noun accord. K. Randolph

Dear b-hebrew listers,

 

In the Grammar section of our friend's Karl W. Randolph dictionary (the work he was so kind to let us know on this list), I read this concerning "Noun":

 

1. "Usuallly derived from a verb"

Is this true?  There are in Hebrew many nouns not derived from a verb. For instance, שמש, shemesh, sun; מלח, melax, salt; דור, dor, generation...

Fortunately, Karl himself writes also: "Not all nouns are derived from verbs"

 

2. Shegolate: wrong. It must be "segolate".

3. He writes that

-- Segolate are nouns that are spelled with the same consonants as a third person singular Qal Qatal verb

--but during the Masoretic times pronounced with two short "e" sounds following the first two consonants.

 

Can we accept this?

 

Noun ארח, orax, way (Gn 18:11) has two "e" sounds?

 

VERY IMPORTANT: My criticism is absolutely positive, looking only for the improvement...

 

Greetings.

--
Pere Porta
(Barcelona, Catalonia, Northeastern Spain)