INTERMEDIATE BIBLICAL HEBREW GRAMMAR Press SBL R ESOURCES FOR BIBLICAL STUDY Editor Marvin A. Sweeney, Old Testament/Hebrew Bible Number 89 Press SBL INTERMEDIATE BIBLICAL HEBREW GRAMMAR A Student’s Guide to Phonology and Morphology E ric D. Reymond Press SBL Atlanta C opyright © 2018 by E ric D. Reymond A ll rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by means of any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permit- ted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to the Rights and Permissions Office,S BL Press, 825 Hous- ton Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30329 USA. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Reymond, Eric D., author. Title: Intermediate biblical Hebrew grammar : a student’s guide to phonology and mor- phology / by Eric D. Reymond. Description: Atlanta : SBL Press, [2017] | Series: Resources for biblical study ; number 89 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers:LCCN 2017037103 (print) | LCCN 2017037346 (ebook) | ISBN 9780884142492 (ebook) | ISBN 9781628371895 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780884142508 (hardcover : alk. paper) Subjects: Hebrew language—Phonology. | Hebrew language—Morphology. Classification: LCC PJ4576 (ebook) | LCC PJ4576 .R49 2017 (print) | DDC 492.45/9— dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017037103 Press Printed on acid-free paper. SBL T o Robin, Lucy, and Oliver ἀρχὴ γὰρ αὐτῆς ἡ ἀληθεστάτη παιδείας ἐπιθυμία “The beginning of wisdom is open yearning for instruction” (Wis 6:17). Press SBL Press SBL C ontents A cknowledgments ............................................................................................xi Abbreviations ................................................................................................. xiii List of Tables ....................................................................................................xix Preface: Transliteration, Etymological Bases, and Basic Terms...................1 1. Introduction ................................................................................................9 1.1. What Is Biblical Hebrew? 9 1.2. Varieties of Ancient Hebrew 13 2. Phonology of Ancient Hebrew: Consonants ........................................17 2.1. Classical and Tiberian Biblical Hebrew Consonants 17 2.2. Begadkepat 20 2.3. Classical Hebrew /ḫ/, /ġ/, /ś/ 23 2.4. Pronunciation of Gutturals 29 2.5. Proto-Semitic/Proto-Northwest Semitic /ṯ/, /ḏ/, //, // 29 2.6. Proto-Semitic/Proto-Northwest Semitic /w/ 37 2.7. Correspondences between Weak Roots 38 2.8. Correspondences between Roots with Similarly Articulated Consonants 43 2.9. Correspondences between Etymologically Unrelated Roots 48 2.10. Variation of Orthography and Pronunciation within Roots and Words Press 57 2.11. Chapter Summary 58 3. Phonology of Ancient Hebrew: Vowels ....................................................61 3.1. Tiberian Biblical Hebrew Vowels 65 3.2. Classical Biblical Hebrew Vowels 70 3.3. DevelopmentsSBL of Individual Vowels 72 viii CONTENTS 3.4. Lengthening and Lowering of Vowels in Tonic Syllables 79 3.5. Lengthening of Pretonic */i/ and */a/ and the Place of Stress 82 3.6. Vowel Reduction 85 3.7. “Attenuation” and Similar Changes 90 3.8. “Philippi’s Law” and Similar Changes 94 3.9. Canaanite Shift nda Historical */ā/ 96 3.10. Loss of Final Short Vowels 99 3.11. Feminine Singular *-at > *-ā 100 3.12. Triphthongs and Diphthongs 100 3.13. Compensatory Lengthening 104 3.14. Epenthesis 109 3.15. Loss of Gemination and Shewa 110 3.16. Qamets in the Tiberian Hebrew Tradition and Earlier Vowels 110 3.17. Pausal Forms 111 3.18. Chapter Summary 112 4. Morphology of Ancient Hebrew: The Noun ..........................................115 4.1. Morphology of the Hebrew Noun 115 4.2. Case and Number in Second-Millennium Northwest Semitic 116 4.3. Noun Patterns 122 4.4. Inflection of Basic Masculine and Feminine Nouns 123 4.5. Peculiarities of Some Possessive Suffixes 127 4.6. Biconsonantal Bases 129 4.7. Nouns of the *Qatul and *Qatāl Bases 132 4.8. Nouns of the *Qutul, *Qitāl, and *Qutāl Bases 132 4.9. Nouns of the *Qātil Base 134 4.10. Other Nouns with Long Vowels (without Gemination) 135 4.11. Nouns with Three Root Consonants, One of Which Is Geminated 136 4.12. Aleph-, Yod-, Mem-, and Tav-PreformativePress Nouns 139 4.13. Nouns with Afformatives 142 4.14. I-Aleph, I-Nun, and I-Vav/Yod Nouns 144 4.15. II-Vav/Yod Nouns 144 4.16. III-Vav/Yod Nouns 145 4.17. Geminate Nouns with One Vowel in The Stem 146 4.18. Segolate Nouns 148 4.19. SuppletiveSBL Plurals and Co nstruct Forms in Nouns 157 CONTENTS ix 4.20. Aramaic-Like Forms 158 4.21. Chapter Summary 158 5. Morphology of Ancient Hebrew: The Verb ...........................................163 5.1. Terms for the Verb 163 5.2. History of the Verbal Forms 166 5.3. Verb with Object Suffixes 178 5.4. Verbs in the Non-Qal Conjugations: General Comments 181 5.5. Verbs in the Non-Qal Conjugations: Passive Qal 183 5.6. Verbs in the Non-Qal Conjugations: Piel 184 5.7. Verbs in the Non-Qal Conjugations: Hiphil 186 5.8. Verbs in the Non-Qal Conjugations: Niphal 190 5.9. Verbs in the Non-Qal Conjugations: Pual and Hophal 191 5.10. Verbs in the Non-Qal Conjugations: Hithpael and Hishtaphel 191 5.11. Verbs in the Non-Qal Conjugations: Polel, Pilpel, Poel, Polal, Pilpal, and Poal 193 5.12. Weak Roots: General Comments 194 5.13. Weak Roots: Gutturals and I-Nun 195 5.14. Weak Roots: I-Vav/Yod 198 5.15. Weak Roots: II-Vav/Yod 200 5.16. Weak Roots: III-Vav/Yod 203 5.17. Weak Roots: Geminate 208 5.18. Aramaic and Aramaic-Like Forms 213 5.19. Chapter Summary 213 6. Charts of Nouns and Verbs ......................................................................217 Appendix: Producing Nominal and Verbal Forms ...................................265 Producing Nominal Forms 265 Producing Plural Nouns 265 Producing Masculine Nouns with Press(Most) Suffixes 270 Producing the Construct Form of Nouns 275 and -כֶ ן and -כֶ ם Producing Masculine Singular Nouns with 278 -הֶ ן ,-הֶ ם and -כֶ ן ,-כֶ ם Masculine Plural Nouns with Producing Feminine Nouns with Suffixes 279 Producing the Qåṭal Verb Form 280 Producing the Wəqåṭal Verb Form 283 ProducingSBL the Yiqṭol Verb Form 283 x CONTENTS Producing the Short-Yiqṭol and Wayyiqṭol Verb Forms 283 Producing the Imperative 284 Summary for Producing Verbal Forms 285 Bibliography ...................................................................................................289 Ancient Sources Index ..................................................................................299 Author Index ..................................................................................................311 Word Index .....................................................................................................314 Press SBL A cknowledgments The initial draft of this book was written during a professional develop- ment leave that I was granted in the spring of 2015. It is in large part due to this leave that I have been able to complete this project in a relatively short time. The present book has its roots in handouts prepared for dif- ferent classes I have taught here at Yale Divinity School, including a class in historical Hebrew grammar. I would like to thank the students in my classes for their help in spotting errors of different kinds and in suggesting alternative ways of presenting the material. Their suggestions have helped me make the information in the book easier to read and understand. The numerous symbols that I have used and my idiosyncratic transliteration of Hebrew has, no doubt, added to the burden of producing the book. Therefore, I wish also to thank the team at SBL for putting the book into a form that will make its material accessible, if not also easy to use. My colleagues here at YDS and beyond have also been of assistance in ways they perhaps did not perceive. I have learned much about Hebrew and its texts from my conversations with them, including with Joel Baden, Hindy Najman, Jean-Sébastien Rey, Jan Joosten, and Samuel Adams. My parents have been a constant source of encouragement for this work, as well as for all my other projects; they seemed sometimes more anxious than I to see the book completed. My wife and children deserve the ultimate thanks. Their contribution to this work was not only in their patient acceptance at my periodic absence but also in the genuine interest they expressed in the topic of the work itself and in its steadyPress progress. SBL-xi - Press SBL A bbreviations Grammatical Abbreviations 1cp first common plural 1cs first common singular 2fp second feminine plural 2fs second feminine singular 2mp second masculine plural 2ms second masculine singular 3fp third feminine plural 3fs third feminine singular 3mp third masculine plural 3ms third masculine singular abs. absolute acc. accusative adj(s). adjective(s) Aram. Aramaic cohort. cohortative const. construct state du. dual esp. especially fem. feminine fp feminine plural fs feminine singular Press gen. genitive impv. imperative inf(s). infinitive(s) intrans. intransitive l(l). line(s) masc. masculine mp masculine plural SBL-xiii - xiv ABEITB R V A IONS ms masculine singular nom. nominative pl. plural ptc(s). participle(s) sg. singular spec. specifically suf. suffix trans. transitive Other Abbreviations AfAsL Afroasiatic Linguistics AfO Archive für Orientforschung