(§ 116 f and k) or in the genitive, the case of a word depending on a noun. Such a genitive relation is usually termed an improper annexion. The nearer definition contains a statement either of the material, e.g. Ex 38, &c., אֶ֫רֶץ זָבַת תָלָב וּדְבַשׁ a land flowing with milk and honey; or of the means, e.g. חַלְלֵי־חֶ֫רֶב slain with the sword, Is 222; or the cause, Ct 25 sick of love; or of the scope of the attribute,[1] e.g. Gn 396 יְפֵה־תֹ֫אַר fair of form; cf. Gn 412, 4, Ex 346, Is 14, Jer 3219, Na 13, ψ 1191, Jb 3716; or of the manner, e.g. ψ 596 בֹּֽגְדֵי אָ֫וֶן faithless ones of wickedness (wickedly faithless).
[y] Especially frequent is the use of this genitive to name the part of the body described as being affected by some physical or mental condition, e.g. ψ 244 נְקִי בַפַּ֫יִם clean as regards hands, &c.; 2 S 93, Is 65, Jb 179; Is 1910 אַגְמֵי־נָ֫פֶשׁ grieved in soul; 1 S 110, Jb 320. Also such examples as Am 216, Pr 191, where a suffix is attached to the substantive, must be regarded as instances of the genitive construction, on the analogy of Pr 142, see § 116 k.
[a] Besides the construction of a nomen rectum dependent upon a nomen regens in the construct state (§§ 89 and 128), the connexion of two nouns may also be effected otherwise, either by simply attaching the dependent noun by means of the preposition לְ, which, according to § 119 r, expresses, besides other ideas, like that of belonging to,[2] or by the addition of a relative clause (אֲשֶׁר לְ, see h below).
[b] 1. The introduction of a genitive by לְ sometimes occurs even when the construction with the construct state would be equally possible, e.g. 1 S 1416 הַצֹּפִים לְשָׁאוּל the watchmen of Saul; ψ 3716, 2 Ch 2818 (where indeed the circumlocution makes the sense much plainer); as a rule, however, this use is restricted to the following cases:—
[c] (a) To prevent a nomen regens being determined by a following determinate genitive, e.g. 1 S 1618 בֵּן לְיִשַׁי a son of Jesse (בֶּן־יִשַׁי would be, according to § 127 a, the son of Jesse); cf. Gn 1418, 3612, 4112, Nu 1622 (27:16), 1 S 178, 2 S 1921, ψ 1225. Hence, regularly מִזְמור לְדָוִד (ψ 31, &c.) a psalm of David (properly belonging to David as the author), for which לְדָוִד of David is used alone elliptically in ψ 111, 141, &c. Such a case as לְדָוִד מִזְמוֹר (ψ 241, &c.) is not to
- ↑ Cf. the Latin integer vitae scelerisque purus; tristes animi, &c.
- ↑ Cf. the σχῆμα Κολοφώνιον in Greek, e.g. ἡ κεφαλὴ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ for τοῦ ἀνθρώπου (Bernhardy’s Syntax, p. 88). The Arab grammarians distinguish a twofold genitive, one of which may be resolved by לְ, and the other by מִן [see Wright’s Arabic Grammar, vol. ii, § 75 ff.]. The de of the Romance languages is a development of the latter idea; the Gascon, however, says e.g. la fille à Mr. N., laying stress upon the idea of belonging to and not that of origin, as in la fille de... of the literary language.
