Biblical Hebrew Forum

["J. Leake" <jesleake AT yahoo.co.uk>]

Petr, the difference between the root שחה and השתחוה is an extension by gemation of the last letter, which does otherwise occur in, say, the Arabic if'alla and if'ālla. But alhough you and I are both certain this is a hištaph'el, that's not how it was understood as in Biblical times.

 

Karl, the שחה forms you are talking about are back-formations from השתחוה as it was no longer seen as being a hišaph'el from חוה but a hithpa'lel from שחה. Note that the words are both few and late in date. The medieval Jewish grammarians who later classified Hebrew grammar on the model of Arabic grammatical models would have been aware of both the Arabic if'alla and the istaf'ala forms and they seem to have preferred the former option. Today we have a clearer picture of the structure of Semitic languages than they could have had then, and can see the development of the word.

 

John Leake

 

'inna SâHiba Hayâtin hanî'atin lâ yudawwinuhâ: 'innamâ, yaHyâhâ.
(He who lives a comfortable life doesn't write about it - he lives it.)
Tawfiq al-Hakim, Yawmiyyât Nâ'ib fil-'Aryâf.

From: K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
To: Petr Tomasek <petr.tomasek AT evangnet.cz>
Cc: "b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>; Chris Watts <dekruidnootjes AT eircom.net>
Sent: Monday, 17 June 2013, 18:09
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Hitpael 1st pers plural bow down/worship

Petr:

On Sun, Jun 16, 2013 at 12:28 PM, Petr Tomasek <tomasek AT etf.cuni.cz> wrote:

On Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 03:26:19PM -0700, K Randolph wrote:
> >
>
> Are there any other verbs in Biblical Hebrew that have this
> conjugation? Can you list a few examples?

No. There are not. But causative stems with š-/s- are usual in many
semitic languages, e.g. Aramaic, Akkadian, Ugaritic, Arabic, Geez.

Just because it was in other cognate languages does not mean that it was ever in Hebrew.

> 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.

No, it isn't. Show me another example of a triliteral root in any
semitic language being extended by a consonantal W between the 2nd and
3rd radical...
This is simply nonsense, it doesn't happen in the semitic languages.

That’s not what I wrote.

The verb שחה $XH which is used in binyanim other than Hithpael, is found in Hithpael in Genesis 18:2, 19:1, 1 Samuel 24:8, 25:23, 41, and several other verses.

The verb שחוה $XWH is found in Genesis 22:5, 42:6, Exodus 11:8, and many other verses.

Are they the same verb? They are used in similar contexts, e.g. Genesis 24:26 & 48, or even within the same verses, e.g. Genesis 27:29, or do the differences represent difference in meaning, e.g. one is physical, while the other is attitudinal, mental or spiritual?

>
> > 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.

How?

????? How not? There are six phrases in this verse, and each has a simple meaning, where Naaman mentions one of his duties as top general to his king, and he asks that God overlook that problem and forgive him for it. Simple. 

Petr Tomasek

Karl W. Randolph.

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