> thank you for these examples and quote. I have one of
> Ben-amotz's dictionaries around here somewhere.
> They do illustrate some nice neologisms and slang,
> though I think that you would agree that hitpu``al has not become a
> general binyan like the nitpa``el of mishnaic Hebrew.
Morphological changes normally take centuries. The Mishnaic
Hebrew was spoken a long long time before it was written down.
Also, Nitpael served as a variant for Hitpael, and not as an
independent binyan, like Hitquttal. Perhaps in Mishnaic Hebrew
terms, the other binyanim listed by Schwarzwald such as Nufal
or Hittafel are more appropriate comparisons. Modern Hebrew
Hitquttal may only be in its initial stages. As it is now, it is
productive, so that someone can say hitnuddav and I know what
it means even if I never heard the word before.
And regarding Hotpael, the example above in W&O, p. 431 hukkabbes
suggests to me it is perhaps *Honpa``el, with both -u- and -n- marking the
passive. In any case, the vocalization does not allow reading it as either
Niphal or Pual.