From: CS Bartholomew <jacksonpollock AT earthlink.net>
To: hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [b-hebrew] Iterative 1Sam 1:7
Date: Fri, 05 Sep 2003 11:17:27 -0700
R.Alter's notes (The David Story) on 1Sam 1:7 comment on the "iterative
tense." Waltke & O'Connor (31.2.b) also cite 1Sam 1:7 as an example of the
non-perfective used in an iterative context.
Iteration is very explicitly encoded here by #nh b#nh
(LXX eniauton kat¹ eniauton). What then can we say about the non-perfective
y(#h of 1Sam. 1:7? It occurs here in a context which is explicitly iterative
but the iterativity is made explicit by other means. Perhaps a negation
could be stated, that a perfect would never be used in the slot occupied by
y(#h.
Even if this negation could be sustained, it is not equal to a positive
statement that the non-perfective encodes iterativity, is it?