Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

1. My personal opinion is that there is no such thing in Hebrew as "intensification".

2. I believe that the different BINYANIYM are due to different parallel developments of the Hebrew language in variously inserting the personal pronouns I = HIY and U =HU among the radical letters.

3. For historical reasons some verbs tend to appear in one BINYAN rather than another, while some alternate, for instance $IBER = $ABAR of Ex. 9:25.

4. Hebrew has learned to use the different BINYANIYM to enrich the language and create, out of the same root, words of slightly shifted meaning, for instance the $ABAR, 'broke', of Is. 14:5 versus the MA-$BIYR, 'supplier', of Prov. 11:26.

5. It is of some interest that present day Hebrew likes the clarity of the piel form, to wit: TILPEN, 'used the phone', PIXES, 'sent a fax', SIMES, 'sent an sms', GIGEL, 'looked up google', ZIPZEP, 'zipped through web sites'. In present day Hebrew KAPAR is used for 'denied', as in KAPAR BA-A$MAH, 'denied the accusation'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Jan 4, 2013, at 3:39 AM, Philip wrote:

represents intensification.