Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/151

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ending ־ַת of nouns, and of the 3rd fem. sing. perfect. For the afformatives וּ (וּן) and נָה, see c.

 [e 3. The characteristic vowel of the second syllable becomes Še before tone-bearing afformatives which begin with a vowel, but is retained (as being in the tone-syllable) before the toneless afformative נָה. Thus: תִּקְטְלִ֫י, יִקְטְל֫וּ, תִּקְטְל֫וּ (but in pause תִּקְטֹ֫לִי &c.), תִּקְטֹ֫לְנָה.

 [f Rem. 1. The ō of the second syllable (as in the inf. constr. and imperat.), being lengthened from an original ŭ in the tone-syllable, is only tone-long (§ 9 r). Hence it follows that: (a) it is incorrectly, although somewhat frequently, written plene; (b) before Maqqeph the short vowel appears as Qameṣ ḥaṭuph, e.g. וַיִּכְתָּב־שָּׁם and he wrote there, Jos 832 (but cf. also Ex 2137, Jos 1820); (c) it becomes Še before the tone-bearing afformatives ־ִי and וּ (see above, e; but Jerome still heard e.g. iezbuleni for יִזְבְּלֵ֫נִי; cf. ZAW. iv. 83).

 [g Quite anomalous are the three examples which, instead of a shortening to Še, exhibit a long û: יִשְׁפּוּטוּ הֵֽם Ex 1826, immediately before the principal pause, but according to Qimḥi (ed. Rittenb. p.18b), ed. Mant., Ginsb., Kittel against the other editions, with the tone on the ultima; likewise לֹֽא־תַֽעֲבוּרִ֖י מִוֶּה֑ Ru 28; תִּשְׁמוּרֵֽם (in principal pause) Pr 143. In the first two cases perhaps יִשְׁפּ֫וֹטוּ and תַּעֲב֫וֹרִי (for יִשְׁפֹּ֫טוּ, &c.) are intended, in virtue of a retrogressive effect of the pause; in Pr 143 תִּשְׁמְרוּם is to be read, with August Müller.

 [h 2. The ō of the second syllable is to be found almost exclusively with transitive verbs middle a, like קָטַל. Intransitives middle a and ē almost always take ă (Pathaḥ)[1] in the impf., e.g. רָבַץ, יִרְבַּץ to couch, שָׁכַב, יִשְׁכַּב to lie down (לָמַר, יִלְמַד to learn is also originally intransitive = to accustom oneself); גָּדֵל, יִגְדַּל to become great (but cf. שָׁכַן and שָׁכֵן imperf. יִשְׁכֹּן to dwell and to inhabit, נָבֵל imperf. יִבֹּל to wither); also from verbs middle ō, as קָטֹן to be small, the imperf. has the form יִקְטַן.

 [i Sometimes both forms occur together; those with ō having a transitive, and those with ă an intransitive meaning, e.g. יִקְצֹר he cuts off, יִקְצַר he is cut off, i.e. is short; חָלַשׁ impf. ō, to overcome, Ex 1713; impf. ă, to be overcome, Jb 1410. More rarely both forms are used without any distinction, e.g. יִשֹּׁךְ and יִשַּׁךְ he bites, יֶחְפַּץ and יַחְפֹּץ he is inclined (but only the latter with a transitive meaning=he bends, in Jb 4017). On the a of the impf. of verbs middle and third guttural, cf. § 64 b; § 65 b. In some verbs first guttural (§ 63 n), ע״ע (§ 67 p), פ״י (§ 69 b), and פ״א (§ 68 c), and in יִתֵּן for yintēn from נָתַן to give, instead of ă or ō a movable Ṣere (originally ĭ) is found in the second syllable. A trace of these i-imperfects[2] in the ordinary strong verb is probably to be found in וַיַּטְמִ֫נוּ 2 K 78, since טמן otherwise only occurs in Qal. We call these three forms of the imperfect after their characteristic vowel impf. o, impf. a, impf. e.

 [k 3. For the 3rd sing. fem. תִּקְטֹל (=tiq-ṭōl), Baer requires in 1 S 2520 תִּפְגשׁ (but read with ed. Mant., &c. תִּפְגּשׁ). For the 2nd sing. fem. (תִּקְטְלִי) the form

  1. This ă is, however, by no means restricted to intransitive strong verbs; apart from verbs third guttural (§ 65 b), it is to be found in פ״ן and ע״ע, and in many verbs פ״א and פ״י (§§ 69–71).
  2. Cf. Barth, ‘Das ĭ-Imperfekt im Nordsemitischen,’ ZDMG. 1889, p. 177 ff.