Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Daniel Lundsgaard Skovenborg <waldeinburg AT yahoo.com>]

I think the "causal" thing is there pragmatically, not semantically like in the translation. The hyperliteral translation would rather be: "I am old from being for a man." – without the "too".

I believe the use of מן here is that of comparison, i.e., the best literal translation should actually rather be: "I am older than being for a man."

- Daniel Lundsgaard Skovenborg

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From: Chris Watts <dekruidnootjes AT eircom.net>
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Monday, July 22, 2013 12:28 PM
Subject: [b-hebrew] Ruth 1: 12 too old for a husband

The part of verse 12:  זקנתי  מהיות  לאיש  concentrating 
on the mem prefix.  Looking down my lists of how מן  is used I have 
presumed to fit it into the "Causal" category, (from arnold and choi 
ref heb syntax book).  Literally translated in idiomatic way:  "I am 
too old from being for a husband."  It's interesting to see how 
modern hebrew would say this:  אני זקן מכדי שאהיה לי 
הבעל  they have also that nuance of 'from' followed by the verb 
'being'.  It is interesting to note that she does not say :   
זקנתי להיות אישה



Chris Watts
Ireland



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