Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Dave Washburn <davidlwashburn AT gmail.com>]

On Sun, Jun 16, 2013 at 7:54 PM, J. Leake <jesleake AT yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

 

I must admit, Dave, that that's not how I see the 'hole':

 

                                Basic  G-stem              Emphatic  D-stem            Causative H-stem

 

active                      qal                                  pi'el                                     hiph'il

 

passive                   qal passive                    pu'al                                    hoph'al

 

reflexive/middle     niph'al (? hithpa'al)        hithpa'el                              hishtaph'el

 

As I see it the question is whether here was an original hithpa'al as a qal reflexive, perhaps replaced into the hithpa'el as the qal passive was by the niph'al. But the connection between the H-stem causatives and SH-stem in oher Semitic languages is supposed to be strong. So perhaps the pre-NWS system had a shaph'ala for a hiph'il.

I pretty much reproduced the grid as I was taught. I haven't paid that much attention to the intricate details of the stems in quite some time, so you could be correct.
 

That fits much better with the Arabic system:

 

                                Basic  G-stem              Emphatic  D-stem          Reciprocating      Causative H-stem

 

active                      fa'ala                              fa''ala                               fâ'ala                     'af'ala 

 

passive                   fu'ila                                fu''ila                                fû'ila                       'uf'ila

 

reflexive/middle     infa'ala / ifta'ala              tafa''ala                            tafâ'ala                  istaf'ala

 

 In fact the N-stem can probably be better seen as a separate agent-less passive pattern that replaced the qal passive at some point than specifically tied to the qal. 

I don't know Arabic so I'll take your word for it.
 

BTW, we are speaking of the pre-history of Hebrew here - athough the qal passive seems to be well attested in the Biblical text, the hishtaph'el was obviously no longer a productive stem by Biblical Hebrew times.

Agreed. I see its survival in this one term as a bit of a relic, sort of like "goodbye" in English. It survived in a fixed form whose origins were probably lost in the mists of time.

-- 
Dave Washburn

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