Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/154

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jussive, yăqtŭl; (c) a double ‘energetic’ mood of the impf., yăqtŭlănnă and yăqtŭlăn, in pause yăqtŭlā, the last form thus corresponding to the Hebrew cohortative.

 [c 3. The characteristic of the cohortative form is an ā (־ָה) affixed to the 1st pers. sing. or plur., e.g. אֶקְטְלָה from אֶקְטֹל.[1] It occurs in almost all conjugations and classes of the strong and weak verb (except of course in the passives), and this final ־ָה has the tone wherever the afformatives וּ and ־ִי would have it. As before these endings, so also before the ־ָה cohortative, the movable vowel of the last syllable of the verbal form becomes Šeewâ, e.g. in Qal אֶשְׁמְרָ֫ה I will observe, in Piʿel נְנַתְּקָ֫ה let us break asunder, ψ 23; on אֶשְׁקֳטָה Is 184 Qe (cf. also 274, Ezr 825, &c.), see § 10 h; with the Kethîbh of these passages, compare the analogous cases ישׁפוטו, &c., § 47 g.—On the other hand, an unchangeable vowel in the final syllable is retained as tone-vowel before the ־ָה, as (e.g.) in Hiph. אַזְכִּ֫ירָה I will praise. In pause (as before û and î), the vowel which became Še is restored as tone-vowel; thus for the cohortative אֶשְׁמְרָ֫ה the pausal form is אֶשְׁמֹ֑רָה ψ 5910; cf. Gn 1821, Is 4126.

 [d The change of ־ָה into the obtuse ־ֶה seems to occur in 1 S 2815, unless, with Nestle, we are to assume a conflate reading, וָֽאֶקְרִַא and וָֽאֶקְרֶה; and with the 3rd pers. ψ 204, in a syllable sharpened by a following Dageš forte conjunct.; cf. similar cases of the change of ־ָה into the obtuse ־ֶה in l and in §§ 73 d, 80i, 90i. In ψ 204, however, יְדַשְּׁנֶ֫הָ—with suffix—is probably intended. An ־ָה cohort. is also found with the 3rd pers. in Is 519 (twice); Ez 2320, and again in verse 16 according to the Qe, but in both these cases without any effect on the meaning. Probably another instance occurs in Jb 1117, although there תָּעֻ֫פָה might also, with Qimḥi, be regarded as 2nd masc. For the doubly irregular form תָּב֫וֹאתָה Dt 3316 (explained by Olshausen and König as a scribal error, due to a confusion with תבואת in verse 14), read תָּב֫וֹאנָה. For תְּבוֹאָֽתְךָ Jb 2221 the noun תְּבוּאָֽתְךָ thine increase, might be meant, but the Masora has evidently intended an imperfect with the ending ath, instead of ־ָה, before the suffix, on the analogy of the 3rd sing. fem. perfect, see § 59 a; on ותבאתי 1 S 2534, see § 76 h.

 [e The cohortative expresses the direction of the will to an action and thus denotes especially self-encouragement (in the 1st plur. an exhortation to others at the same time), a resolution or a wish, as an optative, &c., see § 108.

 [f 4. The general characteristic of the jussive form of the imperfect is rapidity of pronunciation, combined with a tendency to retract

  1. Probably this ā goes back to the syllable an, which in Arabic (see above, Rem. to b) is used for the formation of the ‘energetic’ mood, and in Hebrew (see the footnote to § 58 i) often stands before suffixes.