To: "'Smith, Colin'" <csmith AT bbc.edu>, <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Cc:
Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] re:the mystery of the vav-consecutive
Date: Wed, 25 May 2005 16:17:07 -0400
Colin Smith wrote:
> The derivation of the wayyiqtol verb is relevant to the
> discussion. The most likely origin of the
> form is that it was an innovation, combining vav with
> doubling (assimilated nun?) and an archaic
> preterite verbal form, adapted for a new kind of literature,
> religous narrative/prose. The sacred
> writing/mythology of the other ANE languages was poetic
> (treating Middle Egyption prose as
> non-Semitic). The Hebrew Bible was the first body of Semitic
> literature to present sacred texts inprose form and it
> presented a unique circumstance in which a verbal form was
> created to suit the needs of the text - a narrative of the
> acts of a God of time/history rather than a god of nature.
Wow! That's quite a theory. Can you tie it to any evidence? What do you make
of narrative wayyiqtol in epigraphic Hebrew?