THE GENESIS OF THE VERB hidpis "Print" AND ITS COG NA TES by Zvi Betzer Bar-Ilan University The root dps "print" is found in Israeli Hebrew in only three conjugations: hiphil, huphal, and niphal, whereas in the Responsa literature of the 16th to the 19th centuries we find it also in the qal. In this article I examine the verb diipas and its relationship to hidpis. Since printing does not predate the mid-15th century, it is clear that Hebrew verbs meaning "print" did not come into being before that date. Colophons of Hebrew incunabula show that the verbs kiitab and hiiqaq were first employed, while the root dps appeared only in the third stage: initially as diipas and soon afterwards as hidpis. For some decades the niphal (nidpas) exclusively served the passive (of the qal or of the hiphil), since the huphal apparently did not appear before the middle of the 16th century. This order of development sheds light on the morpho-syntactic arrangement of the "print" field in medieval Hebrew. a. Background In Israeli Hebrew the verb "print" is expressed by hidpis, and its passive is filled either by hudpas or by nidpas. This means that the huphal and the niphal function as doublets in expressing the passive of the active hiphil. 1 It seems, likewise, that synchronically hudpas is the main passive and nidpas is secondary to it. Hence, it is instructive to trace formation of the dps verbs to 1. At present, both the huphal and the niphal of dps serve as unrestricted alternatives for the past and present (participle), but for the future the huphal alone is common (niphal is rare). In other words, yiddapes ''will be printed" is rarely used. 5 6 ZVIBETZER their conjugations and thereby throw light upon an aspect of 15th century Hebrew. A diachronic examination of the dps conjugations enables us to follow the development of the root from its genesis to the present. The root dps, with the connotation relevant to our study, is contemporaneous with printing, i.e., the last decades of the 15th century, when Hebrew books were first published. 2 Consequently, we have to find the occurrences of the dps verbs during the I 5th-16th centuries. The Responsa literature is pertinent for such an investigation since this represents a major source of Hebrew usage for that period. We have examined through the medium of the computer all the works which form the data-base of the Bar-Ilan University Responsa Project (hereafter: Responsa Project).3 b. The dps Verbs in the Responsa Literature The immediate finding we made was that the verb dps is not only declined in the three conjugations (hiphil, huphal, and nipha[), but it also occurs quite frequently in the qal. I have already mentioned the existence of dps (qa[) in my work on the language of the Responsa (Betzer-Bistritzer, 1990, pp. 60-62). Here we list all the occurrences of dps (qa[) in the Responsa Project4 (in the order of their appearance): 5 2. We have in mind here relief print ("book print") whose invention is credited to Gutenberg. Printing began in 1445 in Germany, from which it spread to the whole of Europe. Hebrew printing began about 1470 (Habermann, 1969, p. 76). 3. On the Responsa Project and the compositions it includes, see for example Betzer-Bistritzer (1990, pp. 8, 482-484). 4. For the benefit of those who are not familiar with dps (qal), we list here all the occurrences found in the Responsa Project, including those post-dating the 15th-16th centuries. 5. Every reference has two parts. The first part contains the name of the work (without the word Su"t), its part (where there are more than one), and the time when the author lived (in square brackets). The second part contains the section, the number of the paragraph in the section, and the number of the sentence in the paragraph. This system of quotation is based upon the Responsa Project and has useful advantages. The names of the works are only mentioned here, since the Responsa Project system of listing references is used here. In order to ease the acquaintance with those works, the names of the authors are listed here: Bit Y osep - Joseph Caro; Binyamin ze·eb - Benjamin Ze,ev ben Mattathias; ·en Y ishaq - Isaac Elhanan Spektor; H akam S ebi - Zevi Ashkenazi; Harada"k - David ben Hayyim Hakkohen; Haram "a - Moses Isserles; Haram Soper - Moses Sofer; Hayyim Beyad - Hayyim Falaji; Hut Hammeiullas - Solomon Duran, Solomon Seror, Abraham Tawa; Mahara"m Padova - Meir Katzenellenbogen; Afaharia"m - Mordecai Schwadron; Nodir Bihuda - Ezekiel Landau; Rana"h - Elijah ben Hayyim; Sis ,ellezer - Eliezer Judah Waldenberg; Taibe"s - Simeon ben Zemah Duran; Te.fuba Me'ahaba - Elazar Fleckeles; Torat 'emet - Aaron Sassoon. GENESIS OF THE VERB hidpis 7 I 77::> m DiD,7 'lUi "l1.li7'UJJ1'7 i7 l'K (Haram"a [16), 10-9-3). "Another yentilomer is absolutely forbidden to print it." 6 lidpos (inf) "to print" 2oini71)ill1"11.lM i:PJl)' K7 MK DYD i~D' CK Cl (id., 10-14-3). "Even if they did damage once, they shall not be prevented from printing on account of this." 3 moin'i.l m:nwm :-oim wn K7il (Rana"h [16], 84-8-1). "It is verily written in the printed responsa." depusot (pt. pass. f.pl.) "printed" 4 n7i::> t)yl)::J iloiDi K'm (Torat "emet [16-17], 86-15-1).7 "And it is almost completely printed." depusa (pt. pass. f.s.) "printed" 5 ilDiD'i.l 'miwm ill "\Ni:lll "1DUi (Hakam s ebi [ 17-18], 80-2- I), "which is already explained in my printed responsum." 6 noin'i.l 'miwm unit 03'tJ:'tl) (id.) "For the reason mentioned in my printed responsum." 7 iM'M i::i DiD,7 7::>,'Ui (Nadir Bihudii-2-"orah Hayyim [18), 33-1-1).8 "That he will be able to print his signature." 8 lK"l!> Ui1p n7iip) 'nt>Di 1UiK (Tesuba M e""ahlibii-1 [ 18-19), 1-43-1 ). "which I have printed in Jewish Community Prague." dapasti (pf. I m.s.) "I have printed" 9-12 'nt>D, x4 (id., 8-6-1; 58-4-1; 117-7-1; 174-2-1). 6. The meaning of yentilomer is provided by Haram "a in that section: "ll'1N Dll -,nrnvm i73117'1Dll.'' 1l.,.,,,, lT'71il1J1 'IYlM 'IVlM1:I (Haram "a, 10-8-5), "And he participated with one of his prominent countrymen, i.e.,yentilomer." Y enti/omeris apparently a prominent, noteworthy person. On the etymology of this Yiddish noun and its relationship to "gentleman" on the one hand and to yente on the other, Prof. J. Bar-El kindly pointed out to me his work (Bar-El, pp. 39-42). 7. In the Responsa Torat 'emet there are four more instances of dps (pass. pt.) as follows: depusa (64-5-1; 68-3-2; 125-3-3), depusot (74-11-1). 8. At the end of the Responsa Nodif Bihudii, there are three further instances of lidpos "to print"; however, they are not from the pen of the author (R. Ezekiel Landau) but are the annotations of R. Baruk Frenkel. They are found in part two of his annotations to !{ofrn M i!.piit, section 24. 8 ZVIBETZER 13-17 Oi.1:>i7 x5 (Hiitam Soper-5-Hoien Mispiit [18-19], 79-28-1; id.-6- Liqqutlm x2; 9 Hayyim Beyiid (19], 106-2-2; 0 en Yishiiq-1-'orah Hayyim [19], 5-37-2). 18 pnr ?m "1!:lO :1"~ 'ntJ!>ilV c,,p,,, 'n::lrO oitmp:-i m ("en y ishaq-"eben Hitizer, 20-3-23). "This treatise I wrote before I printed my book Nahal Y ishaq." 19 n:nv:z iOD'T'lV (Maharfa"m-2 [19-20], 93-5-2). 10 "which they will print on Shabbat." yidpesu (impf. 3 m.pl.) "they will print" 20 ·::i p?rn ~ :-t"'K 11 0iD'T'lV ium::i tv"1l:> (id.-5, 84-3-1). "As I have written in a responsum which will be printed presently in part two." yidpos (impf. 3 m.s.) "he will print" 21 mo? 12rt':2Ll COi.!:>7 oiDi7 (Sis 'eli°ezer-9[20], 15-3 8-2). "To print in order to publicize this for ever." In addition to the instances of the qal cited from the Responsa literature, there should be added yidpesu "will print," found in the approbation of R. Yishaq Shmelqes to the responsa of Besal°el Ashkenazi (16th century): 22 13m'.11.37i oi'1l O'llV itv3' ni?:> i:s; it1DlV1.3:J io.1:>,, K?i (id.). "And they are forbidden to print the like of it until the completion of ten years from the undermentioned date." 9. In addition to the three occurrences of lidpos "to print" which we quoted from the Hatam S aper, the work also has 'llO!l"T' and 00'"1'. Since there is doubt whether they are qal or hiphil (yidpos or yadpis; y1dpesenna or yadpisennu), we have not included them here. Other cases about which there is similar doubt (00'"1' and OO"Rt) have been encountered in Hii'elep Lekt1 Selomo and in Seride 'ei, and we did not include them for the same reason. 10. Apparently there is doubt here as to whether it is qal or hiphil as above, but the neighboring ieyyidpos suggests that we have the qal conjugation, i.e., seyyidpesu. 11. This qal has the connotation of the niphal "will be printed." In late Rabbinical Hebrew, one finds now and then the qa/ used with the connotation of the niphal, e.g., yahGrog we'al yd'abor instead of yehareg we'al yd'abor "One should rather be killed than transgress"; yasub wey1mhol 16 instead of yiiiub weyimmahet 16 "One shall repent and will be forgiven" (see Avineri 1945, p.