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Re: Biblical Hebrew (and Semitic) questions
Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2020 7:52 pm
by Richard W
Ser wrote: ↑Sat Mar 14, 2020 6:05 pm
As for Biblical Aramaic malḵîn, it might be relevant that the Hebrew construct plural of méleḵ is malḵê - there seems to be no sound evidence of it being malᵉḵê.
I don't understand what you mean here. Did you mean to write māl
eḵê
with qamaṣ at the end of that sentence? How would mal
eḵê be distinguished from malḵê?
I meant what I wrote. In writing, I would expect to see the distinction made by placing
metheg under the first consonant of
malᵉḵê, but no metheg under the first consonant of
malḵê. Possibly I am expecting too much - דִּבְרֵ֥י
diḇᵉrê doesn't have a metheg at Amos 8:11.
Re: Biblical Hebrew (and Semitic) questions
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 6:09 pm
by zompist
This is a very basic question... in Genesis 1 we have
וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי אוֹר – וַֽיְהִי אְוֹר.
My question is, where does יְהִי
yəhī come from? Conjugation tables
like this one have no such form; they have the 3sm prefixing form יִהְיֶה
yihye instead.
(
This page has nice glosses, but it glosses the 1st occurence of יְהִי as jussive, the second as imperfective!)
Re: Biblical Hebrew (and Semitic) questions
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 8:50 pm
by bradrn
zompist wrote: ↑Fri Apr 10, 2020 6:09 pm
This is a very basic question... in Genesis 1 we have
וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי אוֹר – וַֽיְהִי אְוֹר.
My question is, where does יְהִי
yəhī come from? Conjugation tables
like this one have no such form; they have the 3sm prefixing form יִהְיֶה
yihye instead.
(
This page has nice glosses, but it glosses the 1st occurence of יְהִי as jussive, the second as imperfective!)
According to
A Grammar for Biblical Hebrew, by Barrick and Busenitz (p127):
The perfect verb הָיָה and its imperfect form יִהְיֶה frequently occur in biblical Hebrew with the waw (וְהָיָה and וַיְהִי, respectively) … Occasionally the strong dagesh (forte) is omitted from the more commonly used forms for euphonic reasons. יְהִי is a shortened form of יִהְיֶה. The waw-consecutive, when attached to the imperfect, prefers the shortened form of the imperfect whenever one exists.
I’m not too sure how helpful this is though — I’m really bad at Hebrew.
Re: Biblical Hebrew (and Semitic) questions
Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2020 10:59 am
by Richard W
bradrn wrote: ↑Fri Apr 10, 2020 8:50 pm
According to
A Grammar for Biblical Hebrew, by Barrick and Busenitz (p127):
The perfect verb הָיָה and its imperfect form יִהְיֶה frequently occur in biblical Hebrew with the waw (וְהָיָה and וַיְהִי, respectively) … Occasionally the strong dagesh (forte) is omitted from the more commonly used forms for euphonic reasons. יְהִי is a shortened form of יִהְיֶה. The waw-consecutive, when attached to the imperfect, prefers the shortened form of the imperfect whenever one exists.
I’m not too sure how helpful this is though — I’m really bad at Hebrew.
The jussive (2 & 3 person) is like the form seen in the waw-consecutive, e.g. apocopated for lamedh he verbs. The vocalisation is at least semi-regular for a segholate, though 'lamedh he' (they actually end in yodh!) segholates seem a bit of a mess.
Re: Biblical Hebrew (and Semitic) questions
Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2020 4:07 pm
by zompist
OK, thanks! Does יְהִי survive in modern Hebrew? My understanding is that the converted (waw-) forms and the jussive both mostly disappeared after Biblical Hebrew. And that would explain why conjugation tables omit it.