The Piel certainly has a causative idea. I tell my students to
think of the Piel as indicating a heightened action of some kind,
whether that be intensive (eg, 'smash' rather than 'break') or
causative (eg, 'grow' rather than just 'be big'). Of course, some
actions have a naturally heightened concept, and therefore do not
have any regular equivalent in the Qal stem (eg, DiBBeR - to speak,
a heightened form of saying).
It's also helpful, as Peter Kirk has already alluded, to see the
Piel and Hiphil as Hebrew parallels (not equivalents) to the
addition of certain English suffixes. For example, compare the
suffixes -ise (naturalise, realise -- for the Americans amongst us,
that's -ize) and -ify (magnify, rectify).
Best Regards,
GEORGE ATHAS
(Sydney, Australia)
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