Ver. 18.0

August 22, 2010

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History of the Ancient and Modern Hebrew Language

By David Steinberg

David.Steinberg@houseofdavid.ca

Home page http://www.houseofdavid.ca/

Excursus 2

Evolution of Pronunciation and Stress Patterns

(N.b. syllables carrying the primary word stress are in bold)

(Part 2)

1. Classes of Verbs[1]

Historically, in srtong verbs, in both the SC and PC (traditional "perfect" and "imperfect" respectively) of the qal, one of the three short primitive Semitic vowels /a/, /i/, /u/ appear between the second and third root consonant. The attested forms in BH are:

a. stative verbs (declined adjectives) e.g.כָּבֵד (EBHP /kaˈbid/ i-a class) "he is/was heavy", כָּבְדוּ (EBHP /kaˈbidū/) "They are/were heavy", יִכבַּד (EBHP /yikˈbad/ etc.) "They will be heavy"; קָטׂן (EBHP /qaˈṭun/ [qɐˈṭʊn] or u-a class) "he is/was small", קָטׂנְתִּי (EBHP /qaˈṭuntī/ [qaˈṭuntī] or [qaˈṭontī]) "I am/was small", יִקְטַן (EBHP /yiqˈṭan/ etc.) "I will be small";

b. intransitive verbs e.g. לָמַדְתִּי (EBHP /laˈmad/ a-a class) "I learned", יִלְמַד (EBHP /yilˈmad/ etc.) "I will learn"; and,

c. transitive verbs e.g. לָכַד (EBHP /laˈkad/ a-u class) "he captured" (suffix conjugation יִלְכּׁד EBHP /yilˈkud/ [yɪlˈkʊd] etc.); נָתַן (EBHP /naˈtan/ a-i class) "he gave" (suffix conjugation יִתֵּן EBHP /yitˈtin/ [yɪtˈtɪn] or [yɪtˈtɛn] etc.).

In Biblical Hebrew the u-a class is relict with only a few examples remaining; the a-i class consists of a small number of very common verbs; the a-a class shows clear signs of assimilating into the a-u class. In Mishanic hebrew, the i-a class and the remnants of the u-a class would be replaced by their already common biblical adjective forms - e.g. BH כָּבְדוּ would be replaced by MH כבדים היו or היו כבדים and BH קָטׂנְתִּי would be replaced by MH קטן הייתי or הייתי קטן.

3. Length of EBHP Vowels after Second Root Consonant of the Strong Verb, represented by Ṣērê and Ḥōlem in TH

The following clearly had long vowels following the second root consonant of the strong verb in /EBHP/:

§ qal inf. abs.;

§ hiphil SC, PC (indicative), a.p. and inf. constr.; and,

§ the passive participles in general - qal (qaˈṭiːl; qaˈṭuːl ), Huphal (huqˈṭal)

It is very likely that in all other cases vowel, if any, following the second root consonant of the strong verb was short.

2. Background on Biblical Hebrew Suffix Conjugation (traditional "perfect")

The suffix conjugation was originally a declined noun/adjective[2] that enlarged its original signification (e.g. "I am a man", "I am good") to include the state of having completed intransitive and transitive actions eventually replacing the old preterite.

Table 28

Common Stative and Similar Qal Verbs in TH Form[3]

Category	Meaning	Suffix Conjugation[4]	Prefix Conjugation[5] (indicative) Charistic vowel a in absence of proof to the contrary	Participle (= adjective in stative verbs)	Infinitive Construct
	to be good	טוֺבוּ	יִיטַב	טוֺב	טוֺב
	to be evil	רַע	יֵרַע	רַע
	to be big, grow (intransitive)	גָּדֵל\ גָּדַל		גָּדוֺל
	to be small	קָטֺן		קָטֺן
	to be high	גָּבַהּ		גָּבֺהַּ
	to be low	ֺשָפֵל		ֺשָפֵלֺ
	to be strong	חָזֵק		חָזֵק
	to be weak	דַּל	יִדַּל
	to be heavy	כָּבֵד*		כָּבֵד
	to be light	קַל	יֵקַל	קַל
	to be far	רָחַק		רָחוֹק
	to be close	קָרֵב\ קָרַב		קָרוֹב
	to approach (defective verb)	נָגֵֺש*	יִגַֺּש
	to adhere	דָּבֵק\ דָּבַק
	to be pure	טָהֵר		טָהוֹר
	to be impure	טָמֵא		טָמֵא
	to be full	מָלֵא		מָלֵא
	to love	אָהַב/אָהֵב	יֶאֱהַב
	to desire	חָפֵץ	יַחְפֹּץ
	to hate	שׇֺנֵא
	to fear	יׇרֵא	יִירׇא
	to dread*	יָגֹר	יָגוּר [גור]
	to tremble	חָרַד	יֶחֱרַד
	to fear, tremble	פָּחַד
	to forget	שָׁכֵחַ */ שָׁכַח
Physical States
	to wear (clothes)	לָבַשׁ / לָבֵשׁ
	to be sated	שָׂבֵעַ / שָׂבַע		שָׇׂבֵעַ
	to be hungry	רָעֵב		רָעֵב
	to be thirsty	צָמֵא		צָמֵא
	to sleep	יׇשֵׁן*	יִישַׁן
	to lie down, to be lying down	שָׁכַב			שְׁכַב
	to become childless	שָׁכֺל
	to be able to	יָכֺל	יוּכַל
	to learn	לָמַד
	to die	מֵת	יׇמוּת
	to ask	שָׁאַל
	to inhabit	שָׁכַן (pausal[6] ) שָׇׁכֵן	יִשְׁכֺן
		שָׁמַע (pausal ֺשָׁמֵעַ)

Table 29

History of Stress and Pronunciation of the Hebrew Verb

Suffix Conjugation (traditional "perfect")[7]

(The main example is in qal – the other verbal themes (piel, niphal etc. see footnotes) are analogous[8])

Nb. form in [square brackets] is a reconstructed pronunciation of the preceding /phonemic/ form where likely alternatives exist

Verb Class		*PH (c. 1200 BCE)	PMT (c. 400-300 BCE)	EBHP */EBHP/^+^[9] *[EBHP] ^[10] (c. 850-550 BCE)	PTH */PTH/^+ *[PTH] (c. 400 CE)	TH /TH/^+ *[TH] (c. 850 CE)	MT pronounced as IH [IH] (present)
a-u	1cs. "I wrote"	/ˈkatabku/ > /ˈkatabtu/+ > (≈ suffix /ῑ/, verbal object suffix /nī/, and possibly independant pronoun 1cs.) /kaˈtabtῑ/	כתבתי	/kaˈtabtῑ/ [kɐˈtɐbtiˑ]	/kaːˈtabtῑ/ [kaːˈθavtiː]	כָּתַבְתִּי /kåˈtabti/ [kɔːˈθɐːvtiː]	[kaˈtavti]
i-a	1cs. "I am/was sated"	/ˈśabi^cku/ > /ˈśabi^ctu / > /śaˈbi^ctĩ/[11] > /śaˈba^ctĩ/	שבעתי	/śaˈba^cti(ː)/ [ɬɐˈbɐ^ctiˑ]	/śaːˈba^ctiː/ [saːˈva^ctiː]	שָׂבַעְתִּי /śåˈba^cti/ [sɔːˈvɐː^ctiː]	[saˈvati]
u-a	1cs. "I am/was small"	/ˈqaṭunku/ > /ˈqaṭuntu/ > /qaˈṭuntĩ/[12]	קטנתי	/qaˈṭunti(ː)/ [qɐˈṭʊntiˑ] or [qɐˈṭo̞ntiˑ]	/qaːˈṭontiː/ [qaːˈṭontiː]	קָטׂנְתִּי /qåˈṭonti/ [qɔːˈṭoːntiː]	[kaˈtonti]
a-u	2ms. "You wrote"	/ˈkatabta/+> /kaˈtabtã/	כתבת	/kaˈtabta(ː)/[13] [kɐˈtɐbtɐˑ]	/kaːˈtabtaː/ [kaːˈθavtaː]	כָּתַבְתָּ /kåˈtabtå/ [kɔːˈθɐːvtɔː]	[kaˈtavta]
i-a	"you are/were fat"	/ˈšamintã/ > /šaˈmintã/ > /šaˈmantã/[14]	שמנת	/šaˈmanta(ː)/ [ʃɐˈmɐntɐˑ]	/šaːˈmantaː/ [ʃaːˈmantaː]	שָׁמַנְתָּ /šåˈmantå/ [ʃɔːˈmɐːntɔː]	[ʃaˈmanta]