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 16:29:38 +0200
Hi Bob,
At 16:59 14.10.02 -0400, 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. It appears here and in Gen 44:1.
I think these two forms are normal (non-consecutive) imperfects. If they
were consecutives we would expect a waw and (where available) a shortened
form, but as you point out the forms here are rather lengthened.
I don't think your why-question can be answered definitively.
Jouon-Muraoka (§44e) suggests five causes: "the antiquity of the text, a
deliberate archaism, Aramaic influence, and metre. But the usual reason
seems to be preference for a fuller and more emphatic form."
Maybe someone else can say more?
Andrew Wergeland
--
Stud.Theol. Andrew Wergeland
Fakultetslærar (vik.) - Det gamle testamentet (Hebraisk) /
Faculty Teacher (temp.) - Old Testament (Hebrew)
Det teologiske Menighetsfakultet /
The Nowegian Lutheran School of Theology
Postboks 5144, Majorstua
N-0302 OSLO