Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Petr Tomasek <tomasek AT etf.cuni.cz>]

On Wed, Jun 19, 2013 at 10:02:55AM -0700, Uri Hurwitz wrote:
>    John,
> 
>     Yes, agreed that השתחוה is  a biblical form of
>   Istaf'ala, as is its forerunner in Ugaritic. I am
>  familiar of the Arabic Af'ala , the equivalent of
>  the Hebrerw  Hif'il, but what is  "if'alla" you mention?

It's the IX. stem in Arabic - a rather rare and specialized
stem (e.g. used with colours, like اِحْمَرَّ, iḥmarra...)
 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  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. 

Could you explain, please, how a gemmination of the last letter
could lead to an addition of consonantal wav?

> John Leake

Petr Tomasek