I just read a book review of:
Mark S Smith, The Origins and Development of the waw-consecutive:
Northwest Semitic Evidence from Ugarit to Qumran (Atlanta, Ga.: Scholars
Press, 1991) by Gary Rendsburg [(Hebrew Studies 34 (1993) 203-5].
Smith accepts the dominant theory from G. Bergstraesser (1918) that
waw-consecutive (WC) is derived from a yaqtul preterite, and relies on
Lambdin’s (1971) explanation of the doubling of the following consonant
as “junctural doubling.” However, Rendsburg argues for the Young-Gordon
theory that WC come from Egyptian iw sdm-n-f and that both forms are
comprised of the same four elements, although not in the same order: an
existential particle (w), pronominal indicator (y), past tense marker
(n), and a verbal root. The dagesh in wayyiqtol in the assimilated nun
of the past tense marker. Rendsburg posits an original *han-, cognate
to Arabic 'al (hal- in Bedouin dialects), and the thesis that this form
was commonly used in areas where Egyptian administration was strongest,
accounting for its absence in Phoenician, etc.
I would appreciate learning from the b-hebrew list members some of the
arguments for and against the Young-Gordon theory of the Egyptian origin
of waw consecutive.
Thanks!
Rodney Duke
Dept. of Phil. & Rel.
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC
--
B. M. Rocine
Living Word Chruch
6101 Court St. Rd.
Syracuse, NY 13026
(W): 315.437.6744
[b-hebrew] origin of waw-consecutive,
B. M. Rocine, 09/22/2005