Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Rolf" <rolf.furuli AT sf-nett.no>]

Dear Jerry,

I would like to add one point regarding the origin of WAYYIQTOL to the post I 
sent yesterday.

Ken correctly observes that there is no distinction between WATYYIQTOL and 
WEYIQTOL in the DSS. The same is true in the Greek transcriptions of the 
Hebrew text in Origen's Hexapla. Thus, the WAYYIQTOL form was not known 
before the middle of the first millennium CE., when the Masoretes pointed the 
Hebrew text.

(Please note that  the Palestinian pointings of WEYIQTOLs versus WAYYIQTOLs 
are not always the same as in the MT. For example, in the Palestinian 
manuscript J in Paul Kahle, "Masoreten des Westens Texte und Untersuchungen 
zur Vormasoretischen Grammatik des Hebräischen," 1930, the six WEYIQTOLs in 
Daniel 11:5 (1), 15(2), 16(2), 17(1) are pointed as WAYYIQTOLs.

So, what was the origin of the WAYYIQTOL form? The Masoretes pointed their 
text on the basis of the recitation of the texts in the synagoges—on the 
basis of accentuation (stress) and tone. The difference between WEYIQTOL and 
WAYYIQTOL is basically one of accentuation. It is natural to put the stress 
differently in narrative texts compared with poetry and prophetic texts. Very 
little Hebrew grammar was known in the days of the Masoretes—it seems that 
they did not even know the three-radical nature of Hebrew words. So, the 
pointing of the Masoretes was based on pragmatics—the recitation in the 
synagogues and not om semantics—a grammatical distinction between different 
forms. But in the Middle Ages, the pragmatic pointing of the Masoretes were 
given a semantic interpretation (cf. Kimhi), and the view of the WAYYIQTOL as 
an independent grammatical form was born.

When semantic meaning and conversational pragmatic implicature are not 
distinguished, the result is confusion. Does anyone know of a single 
grammatical study in any of the ancient Semitic languages, except my 
dissertation,  where this distinction is systematically made?



Best regards,


Rolf Furuli
Stavern
Norway