Second Temple Hebrew (Late Biblical Hebrew, Ben Sira, and Qumranic Hebrew) makes predicative use of two seemingly similar constructions: לא + infinitive and אין + infinitive. A syntactic examination of the two from a historical perspective, in light of morphosyntactic changes in the verbal system of Second Temple Hebrew and its sentence patterns, reveals that in spite of the similarities between them in form and in function, these are two seperate constructions that evolved independently. The former, initially a verbal phrase, is the negative counterpart of the affirmative predicative infinitive, and the latter, which constitutes a complete predication, is an offshoot of the existential pattern יש/אין + nominal phrase. In the Hebrew style of the Second Temple period the difference between them narrowed, so that they were occasionally interchangeable.
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Ariel C. Bar-Asher M. & Meir I. “The Predicative Usage of the Infinitive as Indicative Verb in the Dead Sea Scrolls” Nitʿe Ilan: Studies in Hebrew and Related Fieldes Presented to Ilan Eldar 2014 Jerusalem 29 49 (in Hebrew)
Baasten M. F. J. Muraoka T. & Elwolde J. F. “Existential Clauses in Qumranic Hebrew” Diggers at the Well: Proceedings of a Third International Symposium on the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ben Sira 2000 Leiden 1 11
Ben-Ḥayyim Z. The Struggle for a Language 1992 Jerusalem in Hebrew
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Cohen O. The Verbal Tense System in Late Biblical Hebrew Prose 2013 Winona Lake hss 63
Ehrensvärd M. “Negating the Infinitive in Biblical Hebrew” Zeitschrift für Althebraistik 1999 12 146 164
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E.g., Kropat, p. 78; Leahy, p. 142; Kesterson, p. 231; Yifrach, p. 278 and n. 11 (but she claims, using generative phrasing, that in its deep structure the infinitive contains a subject and a predicate). A more nuanced discussion is offered by van Peursen, 2004, p. 250. Eliezer Rubinstein (see Qimron and Strugnell, p. 81) goes as far as attributing the same syntactic structure to the construction לא + infinitive.
Kieviet, 1999, p. 23.
Qimron, 1986, p. 71; Eskhult, p. 91. See also Kieviet, 1999, p. 9 and n. 2.
Kieviet, 1999, p. 24.
Yifrach, p. 278; Ehrensvärd, pp. 156-157.
Van Peursen, 1999, p. 228, n. 39; the translation offered here is identical to his. See also van Peursen, 2004, p. 252, which offers a very similar translation. Skehan and Di Lella, p. 242: “Bring not everyone into your house”.
E.g., Kieviet, 1999, pp. 21, 23; Hurvitz.
Mor, 2008, pp. 238-239.
Qimron, 1986, pp. 77-78; Mor, forthcoming, §5.43.
See the discussion in van Peursen, 1999, pp. 229-230.
See Sokoloff, p. 74.
Cohen, 2013, pp. 211-212. See also the Qumranic examples discussed in Ariel, pp. 33-39.
Cohen, 2013, p. 212.
See van Peursen, 2004, p. 252 and n. 71.
Cohen, 2005, p. 80. This link is also realised in ancient Greek (Kutscher, p. תג).
See Kieviet, 1999, p. 23; Swiggers, p. 178.
Cf. in Rabbinic Hebrew: Sharvit 2008, pp. 255-256 (e.g., יש לי ללמד עליו זכות ‘I have somewhat to argue [or: I can argue] in favor of his acquittal’ [Mishna, Sanhedrin 5:4]), and in Modern Hebrew, with comparison to Modern English: Kuzar, pp. 97-99, 110-113 (e.g., יש לי לכתוב חיבור באנגלית ‘I have an English essay to write’).
Ben-Ḥayyim, p. 83. On the fluidity of the distinction between different types of modality see, e.g., Nuyts, p. 16.
Baasten, p. 10.
Kieviet, 1999, p. 24.
Qimron, 1986, p. 78.
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Second Temple Hebrew (Late Biblical Hebrew, Ben Sira, and Qumranic Hebrew) makes predicative use of two seemingly similar constructions: לא + infinitive and אין + infinitive. A syntactic examination of the two from a historical perspective, in light of morphosyntactic changes in the verbal system of Second Temple Hebrew and its sentence patterns, reveals that in spite of the similarities between them in form and in function, these are two seperate constructions that evolved independently. The former, initially a verbal phrase, is the negative counterpart of the affirmative predicative infinitive, and the latter, which constitutes a complete predication, is an offshoot of the existential pattern יש/אין + nominal phrase. In the Hebrew style of the Second Temple period the difference between them narrowed, so that they were occasionally interchangeable.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 195 | 26 | 4 |
Full Text Views | 179 | 3 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 59 | 7 | 0 |