To: "Bob Connolly" <robert.connolly AT verizon.net>
Cc: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
Subject: Re: Unusual Form?
Date: Tue, 15 Oct 2002 17:08:06 +0100
At 21:59 14/10/02, you wrote:
Can anyone tell me why there is a nun-soffit
atttached to the end of ywk:lwn (Gen 43:32) a waw
consecutive imperative 3rd person masc form of
ykl--to be able.
Bob:
I think you have got the parsing wrong.
This is the 3rd person, masc., plural, Qual imperfect of the verb
yod-kaph-lamed.
But if it is any consolation to you, "A Hebrew Reference Grammar" notes:
>>The imperfect and infinitive construct of the stative verb yod-kaph-lamed
(he is able), which occurs only in the Qal, are completely irregular.
They conjugate as if they are Hophal imperfect forms <<
This goes back a long way in the history of Hebrew, which is why the more
extensive grammars deal with the Peh-Yod and Peh-Waw ( or I-Yod and I-Waw,
in the more modern terminology ) verbs and the "cross-overs" between them,
under one heading.
But as for the nun ending, Gesenius-Kautsch at 47m discusses this ending by
saying;
>> Instead of the plural forms in shurek.... there are, especially in the
older books, more than 300 fuller endings with the _nun paragocicum_,
always bearing the tone ......<snip> <<
Hope this helps.
Maurice
Maurice A. O'Sullivan [ Bray, Ireland ]
mauros AT iol.ie