A New Look at the Biological Sex/Grammatical Gender of Jonah’s Fish
In: Vetus TestamentumSearch for other papers by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer in
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This article proposes a new understanding of the form דגה in Jonah 2:2. As is relatively well-known among biblical scholars, the fish in Jonah seemingly changes biological sex / grammatical gender within the narrative. While Jonah 2:1 and 11 appear to refer to a m.sg. fish, Jonah 2:2 speaks of a f.sg. fish. This intricate textual situation has generated a wide range of more or less fanciful interpretations, ranging from text-historical solutions, via narratological suggestions, to the appearance of multiple fish. The present paper challenges these suggestions and ultimately argues that the form דגה in Jonah 2:2 is a lengthened nominal form. These extremely rare forms often appear in the end of a clause. Other examples of such forms are attested in Job 34:13; 37:12; and Ezek 8:2, as well as in the geographical name Jahaz / Jahza. The current Masoretic accentuation of דגה as a f.sg. form is a result of a misunderstanding of this archaic longer form.
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54
Cf. Hornkohl, Ancient Hebrew Periodization, pp. 213-16, including fn. 114.
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A New Look at the Biological Sex/Grammatical Gender of Jonah’s Fish
In: Vetus TestamentumSearch for other papers by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
This article proposes a new understanding of the form דגה in Jonah 2:2. As is relatively well-known among biblical scholars, the fish in Jonah seemingly changes biological sex / grammatical gender within the narrative. While Jonah 2:1 and 11 appear to refer to a m.sg. fish, Jonah 2:2 speaks of a f.sg. fish. This intricate textual situation has generated a wide range of more or less fanciful interpretations, ranging from text-historical solutions, via narratological suggestions, to the appearance of multiple fish. The present paper challenges these suggestions and ultimately argues that the form דגה in Jonah 2:2 is a lengthened nominal form. These extremely rare forms often appear in the end of a clause. Other examples of such forms are attested in Job 34:13; 37:12; and Ezek 8:2, as well as in the geographical name Jahaz / Jahza. The current Masoretic accentuation of דגה as a f.sg. form is a result of a misunderstanding of this archaic longer form.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 896 | 172 | 21 |
| Full Text Views | 362 | 9 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 221 | 28 | 1 |