Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Ken:

On Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 12:06 PM, Ken Penner <kpenner AT stfx.ca> wrote:

Do the following help?

Joüon §59g: "In the light of Ugr. tštḥwy “she prostrates herself,” what used to be considered hitpa̧ʿlẹl, represented almost entirely by the frequent הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה to worship, to prostrate oneself, is most likely a Hištafʿel of √ חוי."

From where does he get this? 

Joüon §79t:
"Verb חיה: Hištafʿel form הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה to bow down, to prostrate oneself, to worship.
The original root is חוי, i.e. ל״י (cf. § a). The conjugation is hištafʿel (§ 59g; not Hitpaʿlel). The form expresses the causative reflexive action to bow down, to prostrate oneself().
In the perfect the primitive form is hištaḥway. The future *yištaḥway has become יִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה (3rd pl. יִשְׁתַּחֲווּ). The apocopated form is *yišta'ḥw, in which the consonantal w becomes the vowel u: וַיִּשְׁתַּ֫חוּ.

Are there any other verbs in Biblical Hebrew that have this conjugation? Can you list a few examples?

If not, Biblical Hebrew does have a few quadriliteral roots, and this follows the pattern of being one, namely שחוה $XWH, used only in Hitpael.

There appear to be a few uses of the root שחה $XH in the Hitpael. Its form is very similar to שחוה $XWH.

That he uses the word “future” when there is no such conjugation in Biblical Hebrew doesn’t speak well of him.

 

Observation. In 2Kg 5.18 הִשְׁתַּחֲוָיָתִי the inf. has been vocalised in Biblical Aramaic fashion (wrongly, actually, for with the suffixes the inf. takes the ending ūt(). After a scribe had wrongly spelled וי, this sequence was later vocalised mechanically in the Aramaic fashion. One should read (in the 3rd pers.) הִשְׁתַּחֲווֹתוֹ."

Does he have any documentation to back up this claim?

This verse reads quite well as written using an unpointed text. 

Karl W. Randolph.