Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar/123. The Representation of Plural Ideas by Means of Collectives, and by the Repetition of Words

by Wilhelm Gesenius, edited and enlarged by Emil Kautzsch

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§123. The Representation of Plural Ideas by Means of Collectives, and by the Repetition of Words.

a Besides the plural endings treated in § 87 a–i, the language employs other means to express a plurality of living beings or things:

(a) Certain words employed exclusively in a collective sense, while the individual members of the class are denoted by special words (nomina unitatis, but not in the same sense as in § 122 t). Thus בָּקָר cattle, oxen^[1] (even joined with numerals, e.g. Ex 21³⁷ חֲמִשָּׁה בָקָר five head of cattle), but שׁוֹר an ox; צֹאן small cattle, i.e. sheep and goats (μῆλα), cf. Jb 1³ שִׁבְעַת אַלְפֵי־צֹאן seven thousand sheep; but שֶׂה a single head of small cattle (a sheep or a goat). Other more or less common collectives are: זִיז (prop. that which prowls or roams) wild beasts, טַף (perhaps prop. tripping) a number of little children; דֶּ֫שֶׁא fresh green herb, i.e. young plants, יֶ֫רֶק green, i.e. vegetation in general; עוֹף birds, fowl; רֶ֫כֶב chariots or cavalcade, רִמָּה worms, רֶ֫מֶשׂ creeping things (of small creatures), שֶׁ֫רֶץ swarming things.

b (b) The collective use of substantives which at the same time serve as nomina unitatis; thus, אָדָם (never in plur.) means both man (homo) and men (homines); אִישׁ a man (vir) and men (viri); אִשָּׁה woman and women (Ju 21¹⁶, 1 S 21⁶); אַרְבֶּה a locust, but usually a swarm of locusts; נֶ֫פֶשׁ soul and souls (persons); מַקֵּל staff and staves (Gn 30³⁷); עַ֫יִט a bird of prey and birds of prey; עָלֶה a leaf and foliage; עֵ֫שֶׂב a plant and plants, herbs; עֵץ a tree and trees (as it were foliage); פְּרִי fruit and fruits; שִׂיחַ a shrub and shrubs; in isolated instances also nouns like עֶ֫בֶד man-servant, שִׁפְחָה maid-servant, חֲמוֹר ass, שׁוֹר ox (cf. Gn 32⁶).—On the singular (especially of gentilic names) with the article (which may, however, be omitted in poetry, cf. e.g. ψ 12² חָסִיד, Pr 11¹⁴ יוֹעֵץ) to include all individuals of the same species, cf. § 126 l. On the special meaning of the plurals formed from certain collectives, see § 124 l.

(c) The feminine ending; see § 122 s.

c (d) The repetition of single words, and even of whole groups of words, especially to express entirety, or in a distributive sense. The following cases are more particularly to be noticed:

1. The repetition of one or more words to express the idea of every, all, as יוֹם יוֹם Gn 39¹⁰, &c., day by day, every day; שָׁנָה שָׁנָה year by year, Dt 14²²; אִישׁ אִישׁ every man, Ex 36⁴; with בְּ before each, as בַּבֹּ֫קֶר בַּבֹּ֫קֶר Ex 16²¹ every morning (and similarly before a group of words, Lv 24⁸), for which the distributive לְ is also used, לַבֹּ֫קֶר לַבֹּ֫קֶר 1 Ch 9²⁷, and with one plural לַבְּקָרִים ψ 73¹⁴, לִבְקָרִים Jb 7¹⁸ parallel with לִרְגָעִים every moment. Somewhat different are the instances with בְּ before the second word only, e.g. יוֹם בְּיוֹם day by day, 1 Ch 12²²; שָׁנָה בְשָׁנָה year by year, Dt 15²⁰, 1 S 1⁷ (but in verse 3 מִיָּמִים יָמִ֫ימָה), כְּפַ֫עַם בְּפַ֫עַם Nu 24¹, Ju 16²⁰, 20³⁰ f., 1 S 3¹⁰ as at other times. Also With the two words united by means of wāw copulative, אִישׁ וְאִישׁ ψ 87⁵, or אִישׁ וָאִישׁ Est 1⁸; דּוֹר וָדוֹר all generations, Dt 32⁷; יוֹם וָיוֹם Est 3⁴; cf. Est 8⁹, Ezr 10¹⁴, 1 Ch 26¹³ and often (cf. Cheyne, Bampton Lectures, 1889, p. 479, according to whom the use of the ו copulative with the second word is especially common in Ch and Est, and therefore belongs to the later language; Driver, Introd.⁶, p. 538, No. 35); sometimes (but with the exception of ψ 45¹⁸ only in very late passages) with a pleonastic כָּל־ preceding, ψ 145¹³, Est 2¹¹, 9²⁸, 2 Ch 11¹², &c.

d 2. Repetition of words in an expressly distributive sense^[2] (which may to some extent be noticed in the examples under c) equivalent to one each, &c., e.g. Nu 14³⁴ forty days יוֹם לַשָּׁנָה יוֹם לַשָּׁנָה counting for every day a year; cf. Ez 24⁶, Ex 28³⁴ (three words repeated); also with the addition of לְבַד apart, עֵדֶר עֵדֶר לְבַדּוֹ every drove by itself, Gn 32¹⁷; cf. Zc 12¹². Most frequently with the addition of a numeral (for the simple repetition of numerals for the same purpose, cf. § 134 q), and with the words not only in groups of two (Lv 24⁸, Nu 13², 31⁴) or three (Nu 7¹¹, 17²¹), but even of six (Ex 26³) or seven (Ex 25³³, 26¹⁹, 21, 25); in Ex 25³⁵ five words even three times repeated.^[3]

e 3. Repetition to express an exceptional or at least superfine quality; e.g. 2 K 25¹⁵ which were of gold, gold, of silver, silver, i.e. made of pure gold and pure silver; Dt 2²⁷ בַּדֶּ֫רֶךְ בַּדֶּ֫רֶךְ only along by the high way; cf. Nu 3⁸, 8¹⁶ they are given, given to him, i.e. given exclusively for his service, for his very own. Also with a certain hyperbole in such examples as 2 K 3¹⁶ גֵּבִים גֵּבִים nothing but trenches; Gn 14¹⁰ בֶּֽאֱרֹת בֶּֽאֱרֹת חֵמָר all asphalt-pits.—Repetition serves to intensify the expression to the highest degree in Ju 5²² by reason of the violent pransings of his string ones, Ex 8¹⁰ (countless heaps), and Jo 4¹⁴ (countless multitudes); cf. also מְעַט מְעַט Ex 23³⁰ by little and little, very gradually; cf. § 133 k.

f 4. Repetition with the copula to express of more than one kind; thus Dt 25¹³ (Pr 20¹⁰) אֶ֫בֶן וָאֶ֫בֶן a weight and a weight, i.e. two kinds of weight (hence the addition great and small); ψ 12³ בְּלֵב וָלֵב with two kinds of heart, i.e. with a double-dealing heart; cf. the opposite בְּלֹא לֵב וָלֵב 1 Ch 12³³.

1. The plural form בְּקָרִים from בָּקָר is found only in very late Hebrew, Neh 10³⁷ (where according to the Mantua edition, Ginsburg, &c., even צֹאנֵ֫ינוּ our sheep, is also to be read; Baer, however, has צֹאנֵ֫נוּ), and 2 Ch 4³. In Am 6¹² read, with Hitzig, בַּבָּקָר יָם.
2. Cf. in the New Testament St. Mark 6³⁹ f. συμπόσια συμπόσια, πρασιαὶ πρασιαί (Weizsäcker, tischweise, beetweise).
3. These repetitions of larger groups of words belong entirely to the Priestly Code in the Pentateuch, and are unquestionably indications of a late period of the language. Of quite a different kind are such examples as Ez 16⁶, where the repetition of four words serves to give greater solemnity to the promise, unless here, as certainly in 1:20, it is a mere dittography; the LXX omit the repetition, in both passages.