The Syntax of Volitives in Biblical Hebrew and Amarna Canaanite Prose

264 Pages·2014·5.69 MB·English

by  Hélène Dallaire

The Syntax of Volitives in Biblical Hebrew
and Amarna Canaanite Prose
Linguistic Studies in Ancient West Semitic
edited by
Cynthia L. Miller-Naudé and Jacobus Naudé
The series Linguistic Studies in Ancient West Semitic is devoted to the ancient
West Semitic languages, including Hebrew, Aramaic, Ugaritic, and their near
congeners. It includes monographs, collections of essays, and text editions in-
formed by the approaches of linguistic science. The material studied will span
from the earliest texts to the rise of Islam.
1. The Verbless Clause in Biblical Hebrew: Linguistic Approaches,
edited by Cynthia L. Miller
2. Phonology and Morphology of Biblical Hebrew: An Introduction,
by Joshua Blau
3. A Manual of Ugaritic, by Pierre Bordreuil and Dennis Pardee
4. Word Order in the Biblical Hebrew Finite Clause: A Syntactic and
Pragmatic Analysis of Preposing, by Adina Moshavi
5. Oath Formulas in Biblical Hebrew, by Blane Conklin
6. Biblical Hebrew Grammar Visualized, by Francis I. Andersen and
A. Dean Forbes
7. Time and the Biblical Hebrew Verb: The Expression of Tense, Aspect, and
Modality in Biblical Hebrew, by John A. Cook
8. Diachrony in Biblical Hebrew, edited by Cynthia L. Miller-Naudé and
Ziony Zevit
9. The Syntax of Volitives in Biblical Hebrew and Amarna Canaanite Prose,
by Hélène Dallaire
The Syntax of Volitives in
Biblical Hebrew and
Amarna Canaanite Prose
Hélène Dallaire
Winona Lake, Indiana
Eisenbrauns
2014
Copyright © 2014 Eisenbrauns
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.

www.eisenbrauns.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dallaire, Hélène.
The syntax of volitives in biblical Hebrew and Amarna Canaanite
prose / Hélène Dallaire.
pages cm.—(Linguistic studies in Ancient West Semitic ; 9)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 978-1-57506-307-2 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Hebrew language—Grammar, Comparative—Canaanite
language. 2. Hebrew language—Verb. 3. Canaanite
language—Verb. 4. Tell el-Amarna tablets. I. Title.
PJ4564.D35 2014
492.45—dc23
2014033733
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials. ANSI Z39.48-1984.♾™
Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
General ix
Reference Works ix
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1. Introduction 1
1.2. Assumptions 3
1.3. Methodology 4
1.4. Corpus of Texts 5
1.5. Definition of Terms 7
1.6. Sociolinguistic Issues 18
1.7. Modality in Sign Language 25
1.8. Three-Person System of Volitives 26
1.9. Modality in Semitic Languages 30
2. Biblical Hebrew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.1. Introduction 36
2.2. The Imperative 43
2.3. The Jussive 91
2.4. The Cohortative 107
2.5. Additional Verbs with Modal Functions 121
2.6. Conclusion 161
3. El Amarna Canaanite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
3.1. Introduction 165
3.2. Proposed Paradigms for the Canaanite Verbal System 168
3.3. The Imperative 171
3.4. The Jussive 184
3.5. The yaqtula 190
3.6. Verbal Sequences with Volitives 201
3.7. Additional Verbs with Modal Functions 208
3.8. Conclusion 213
4. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
4.1. Yaqtul (Jussive) 216
4.2. Yaqtula 217
v
vi Contents
4.3. Yaqtulan(na) 218
4.4. Regular Imperative 218
4.5. Imperative with Modal -a Ending 219
4.6. Long Imperative with -n(na) Ending 220
4.7. The Volitives and Social Dynamics 222
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Index of Authors 240
Index of Scripture 244
Acknowledgments
It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge those who have been instrumental
in stimulating my interest in the topic of this book and have provided support
throughout this academic project. First, I wish to thank my doctoral adviser,
Stephen A. Kaufman, who freely shared his expertise in Comparative Semitics
and stretched my abilities to comprehend better the peoples and languages of
the ancient Near East. I could not have accomplished this task without his con-
tinual support and professional guidance. I also thank my second reader, Nili
Fox, whose support and rich suggestions contributed to the fine-tuning of this
manuscript. I am indebted to the late Anson F. Rainey, whose endless inspira-
tion and generous contribution energized me to complete this work. Sincere
thanks to Annalisa Azzoni, who spent countless hours reading my drafts, mak-
ing recommendations, and proofreading every part of the manuscript.
I am deeply grateful to Cynthia L. Miller-Naudé and the late Michael P.
O’Connor, who provided invaluable recommendations when I submitted the
manuscript for publication in the LSAWS series. Their investment of time and
scholarly expertise contributed significantly to the improvement of the original
manuscript. To Jim Eisenbraun and the Eisenbrauns staff, especially my editor
Beverly McCoy, whose support I value highly, I am extremely thankful.
I thank my friends in Canada, the U.S., Israel, the Philippines, and else-
where around the world who have been sources of strength along the way. I
honor, respect, and thank my family, especially my late mother, who continu-
ally provided humorous words of encouragement, inspiration, and faithful sup-
port, even in her times of grave illness. And most of all, to my Creator, whose
constant presence provided meaning for the entire project: to Him be the glory!
vii

Abbreviations
General
asv American Standard Version
BH Biblical Hebrew
c. common
coh. cohortative
CS Central Semitic
EA El Amarna
f. feminine
impv(s). imperative(s)
jps Jewish Publication Society Version
juss. jussive
kjv King James Version
m. masculine
n(n). note(s)
niv New International Version
njps New Jewish Publication Society Version
nrsv New Revised Standard Version
p/pl. plural
pron. pronoun/pronominal
PS Proto-Semitic
s/sg. singular
WTT William Tyndale Translation of the Bible
Reference Works
AcOr Acta Orientalia
AfO Archiv für Orientforschung
ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Edited by J. B.
Pritchard. 3rd ed. Princeton, 1969
AnOr Analecta Orientalia
AO Der Alte Orient
AOAT Alter Orient und Altes Testament
AOS American Oriental Series
ArOr Archiv Orientální
AuOr Aula Orientalis
BAR Biblical Archaeology Review
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
BASS Beiträge zur Assyriologie und semitischen Sprachwissenschaft
ix