Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Pere Porta <pporta7 AT gmail.com>]

Karl,

 

is noun HWMYH, commotion, found in the Tanakh? 

If yes, where does it appear?

 

Greetings.

 

Pere Porta

2012/12/13 K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>

Pere:

Thanks for the quick response.

On Wed, Dec 12, 2012 at 8:54 PM, Pere Porta <pporta7 AT gmail.com> wrote:

It is not a noun, Karl. It is a Qal Participle, singular feminine of (+H.

That’s what the dictionaries say. But I’ve noticed that the majority of the time what is called a “participle” is actually a noun “the person or object that is doing such and such an action”.

 

It is not from (Y+. Remark that in Song 1:7 the yod comes after the teth and not before it.

I noticed that, but I also noticed that the two times the verb listed in the dictionary as (Y+ is used, it lacks the yod.

 

It is a variant —rarely appearing in the Tanakh—  of the much more usual form without the yod:

But the -YH ending is found on several nouns, including: )LYH tail of sheep, )NYH ship, BYRNYH fortified place, BNYH building, BRYH food to feed someone, GDYH bank (of river), GWYH body, DWMYH stillness as in rest, HWMYH commotion, etc. So the form is consistent with a noun. Further, its use within the verse is consistent with a noun, not a verb. Therefore, is this another example where tradition is wrong?

 

Look at Dt 20:20; Jd 20:31 and Is 49:21 for some instances of this much common form (lacking yod) of the Qal Participle, singular feminine, of verbs lamed"heh (or lamed"yod).

The lack of the yod calls into question the validity of these examples in this question. 

 

Now, what refers to the meaning...  I'm not sure which is here the real meaning of this word. The NAS has "who veils herself"

(+H is used with M(YL “poncho” ?? so it’s more than just a veil. Does the subject of this verse refer to herself as having become a metaphorical “covering” for the herds of her beloved’s friends?

 

Friendly,

 

Pere Porta

(Barcelona, Catalonia, Northeastern Spain)

Karl W. Randolph. 

-- 
Pere Porta