Cambridge Semitic Languages and Cultures New Perspectives in Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew E DITED BY A ARON D. H ORNKOHL AND G EOFFREY K HAN To access digital resources including: blog posts videos online appendices and to purchase copies of this book in: hardback paperback ebook editions Go to: https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/1392 Open Book Publishers is a non-profit independent initiative. We rely on sales and donations to continue publishing high-quality academic works. NEW PERSPECTIVES IN BIBLICAL AND RABBINIC HEBREW New Perspectives in Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew Edited by Aaron D. Hornkohl and Geoffrey Khan https://www.openbookpublishers.com © 2021 Aaron D. Hornkohl and Geoffrey Khan (eds). Copyright of individual chapters is maintained by the chapters’ authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). 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ISSN (print): 2632-6906 ISSN (digital): 2632-6914 ISBN Paperback: 978-1-80064-164-8 ISBN Hardback: 978-1-80064-165-5 ISBN Digital (PDF): 978-1-80064-166-2 DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0250 Cover image: Genizah fragment of the Hebrew Bible with Babylonian vocalisation (Num. 18.27-28, Cambridge University Library T-S A38.12; courtesy of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library). Genizah fragment of the Mishnah ( Ḥ allah 1, Cambridge University Library MS Add.470.1; courtesy of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library). Linguistic analysis of Ps. 1.1 (Elizabeth Robar). Images selected by Estara Arrant. Cover design: Anna Gatti CONTENTS CONTRIBUTORS ................................ ................................ ..... ix PREFACE ................................ ................................ ................ xix ABSTRACTS ................................ ................................ ........... xxv Aaron Koller The Alphabetic Revolution, Writing Systems, and Scribal Training in Ancient Israel ................................ .... 1 Nick Posegay Hissing, Gnashing, Piercing, Cracking: Naming Vowels in Medieval Hebrew ................................ .......... 2 9 Steven E. Fassberg III - y Imperatives in Ancient Hebrew .............................. 57 Jorik (F. J.) Groen Frequency, Analogy, and Suppletion: √ hlk in the Semitic L anguages ................................ ......................... 75 Ariel Gabbay On the Morphology of t he Guttural Verbs in Sephardic Traditions in the Early Modern Period .......... 97 Na’ama Pat - El Comparative Semitic and Hebrew Plural Morphemes ................................ ................................ 117 Elisheva Jeffay Proper Names as Predicates in Biblical Hebrew .......... 145 vi New Perspectives in Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew Chanan Ariel The Shift from the Biblical Hebrew Far Demonstrative ההוא to Mishnaic Hebrew אותו .............. 167 Bo Isaksson Biblical Hebr ew Short Y iq ṭ ol and the ‘Consecutive Tenses’ ................................ .................... 197 Elizabeth Robar The Rise of Wayyiq ṭ ol ................................ ................... 241 Ambjörn Sjörs Notes on the Lengthened Imperfect Consecutive in Late Biblical Hebrew ................................ .................... 27 5 Geoffrey Khan The Coding of Discourse Dependency in Biblical Hebrew Consecutive W eqa ṭ al and W ayyiq ṭ ol ................ 299 Aaron D. Hornkohl A Tense Question: Does Hebrew Have a Future? ......... 355 Ethan Jones On Pragmatics and Grammar in Biblical Hebrew: Predicate Adjectives and Stative V erbs ........................ 391 Ellen van Wolde Nifʿal V erbs in the Book o f Genesis and T heir Contribution to Meaning ................................ .............. 431 Daniel Wilson הָ יָ ה in Biblical Hebrew ................................ ................. 455 Contents vii Lutz Edzard The Coordination of Biblical Hebrew Finite Verb Forms and Infinitives in Comparative Semitic and Typological Perspective ................................ ............... 473 Cody Kingham Parts of Speech in Biblical Hebrew Time Phrases: A Cognitive - Statistical Analysis ................................ ...... 497 Christian Locatell Polysemous Adverbial Conjunctions in Biblical Hebrew: An Application of Diachronic Semantic Maps ................................ ................................ ........... 547 Cynthia L. Miller - Naudé and Jacobus A. Naudé Differentiating Left Dislocation Constructions in Biblical Hebrew ................................ ........................... 617 Christo H. J. van der Merwe Biblical Hebrew and Cognitive Linguistics: A General Orientation ................................ ..................... 641 Tania Notarius From ַ לוּח to סֵ פֶ ר and Back: An Episode in Biblical Hebrew Historical Lin guistics ................................ ...... 697 Gary A. Rendsburg Israelian Hebrew in the Book of Amos ........................ 717 Yehonatan Wormser Attitudes towards Rabbinic Hebrew as Reflected in Hebrew Grammars during the Jewish Enlightenment ................................ ............................. 741 INDEX ................................ ................................ .................. 757 CONTRIBUTORS Chanan Ariel (PhD, Hebrew University of Jerusaelm, 2018) is a lecturer in the Department of Hebrew Language and Semitic Lin- guistics at Tel - Aviv University. His research focuses on Classical and Medieval Hebrew. He recently received a research grant from the ISF to stu dy Maimonides’ own Hebrew translations from his Judaeo - Arabic writings in comparison to other medieval transla- tions of these texts Lutz Edzard (PhD, UC Berkeley, 1992) is Professor of Arabic and Semitic linguistics at the University of Erlangen - Nürnberg. His research interests include comparative Semitic and Afroasiatic linguistics with a focus on phonology, Arabic and Hebrew lin- guistics, and th e history of diplomatic documents in Semitic lan- guages. He is the editor, together with Rudolf de Jong, of the Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics online at Brill, and, with Stephan Guth, of the online Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies He serves as the Semitics editor for Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft and, with Stephan Guth, as the editor for the series Porta Linguarum Orientalium at Har- rassowitz. Steven E. Fassberg (PhD, Harvard University, 1984) is Caspar Levias Professor of Ancient Semitic Languages in the Department of Hebrew Language at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and x New Perspectives in Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew Director of the Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies. He is a mem- ber of the Academy of the Hebrew Language. His teaching and research have focused on Biblical Hebrew, the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Aramaic dialectology, and Northwest Semitic. His most recent book is An Introduction to the Syntax of Biblical Hebrew (Bialik Institute, 2019). Ariel Gabbay (PhD, The Hebrew University of Jer usalem, 2017) is a senior faculty member at Orot Yisrael College of Education, where he teaches modern and ancient Hebrew and oversees the linguistic training programme of students who are to serve as He- brew teachers . His research focuses on reading tradit ions of Mish- naic Hebrew, especially Sephardic traditions. His articles have been published in Language Studies (The Hebrew University of Je- rusalem) and Lešonenu (The Academy of the Hebrew Language). Jorik (F. J.) Groen is an external PhD student at the Lei den Uni- versity Centre of Linguistics, under the supervision of Prof. Dr Holger Gzella and Dr Benjamin D. Suchard. The topic of his dis- sertation is the Biblical Hebrew verb ךְ הָ ל ‘to go’, describing its semantics and functions. He has previously published on second - millennium BCE Northwest Semitic and the plural formation of Proto - Semitic CVCC - nouns (with Benjamin Suchard). Aaron D. Hornkohl (PhD, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2012) is the author of Linguistic Periodization and the Language of Jeremiah (Brill, 2013), a translated adaptation of his doctoral dis- sertation, and co - editor (with Geoffrey Khan) of Studies in Semitic Contributors xi Vocalisation ( University of Cambridge and Open Book Publishers, 2020) . He holds the positions of Hebrew Language Teac hing Of- ficer and Senior Research Associate in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge. His research is philological/linguistic in nature, focusing on ancient Hebrew, and encompassing diachrony and linguistic periodisation; syntax, pragmatics, and the verbal system; the Tiberian written and read- ing and non - Tiberian Hebrew traditions; textual criticism and lit- erary formation; and historical and contemporary exegesis. He serves on the editorial board of the series Cambridge Sem itic Lan- guages and Cultures. Bo Isaksson (PhD, Uppsala, 1987) is Professor Emeritus of Se- mitic Languages at Uppsala University. His research has con- cerned Classical Hebrew in comparative perspective and Arabic dialectology. In recent years he has initiate d two research pro- jects on clause linking in Semitic languages which have generated a number of publications: Clause Combining in Semitic (Harrasso- witz, 2015), Strategies of Clause Linking in Semitic Languages (Har- rassowitz, 2014), Circumstantial Qualifier s in Semitic: The Case of Arabic and Hebrew (Harrassowitz, 2009). His present topic of re- search is clause linking and the linguistic reality behind the ‘con- secutive tenses’ in Classical Hebrew. Elisheva Jeffay is an MA candidate at Bar - Ilan University, wh ere she received her BA in Linguistics and French. Her research is linguistic, focusing on names in Biblical Hebrew from a syntactic xii New Perspectives in Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew and semantic perspective. Her MA thesis will explore the syntac- tic position of gentilic and personal proper names, as well as their semantics and lexical composition. Ethan C. Jones (PhD, SWBTS, 2016) is the author of Valency of the Hithpael in the series Arbeiten zu Text und Sprache im Alten Testament (EOS, 2017). He has edited a volume on ancient He- brew (Eisenbrauns, 2018). He is currently completing the book Solomon: Language, Linguistics, and Interpretation of 1 Kings 3 – 11 (Fortress Academic). He was recently a Visiting Scholar at the University of Cambridge (Hebrew Studies). He teaches in Texas (USA). His research focuses on the intersection of linguistics and interpretation of ancient Hebrew. His most recent research ap- pears in journals such as JSS , ZAW , JSOT , VT , and JNSL Geoffrey Khan (PhD, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, 1984) is Regius Professor of H ebrew at the University of Cambridge. His research publications focus on three main fields: Biblical Hebrew language (especially medieval traditions), Neo - Aramaic dialectology, and medieval Arabic documents. He is the general editor of The Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Lin- guistics and is the senior editor of Journal of Semitic Studies . His most recent book is The Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew , 2 vols, Cambridge Semitic Languages and Cultures 1 (University of C ambridge and Open Book Publishers, 2020). Cody Kingham (PhD candidate, University of Cambridge) ap- plies Machine Learning and data - driven methods to the study of Contributors xiii Biblical Hebrew. He has co - authored articles on Hebrew data- bases and probabilistic models of Hebrew grammar. He is cur- rently working on his doctoral thesis which looks at the colloca- tional behaviour of time adverbials using cognitive linguistics and advanced statistical approaches. Aaron Koller (PhD, Yeshiva University, 2008) is professor of Near Eastern Studies at Yeshiva University, where he studies Se- mitic languages. He is the author of Unbinding Isaac: The Signifi- cance of the Akedah for Modern Jewish Thought (JPS/University of Nebraska Press, 2020) and Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought (Cam- bridge University Press, 2014), among other books, and the e di- tor of five more. Aaron has served as a visiting professor at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem and held research fellowships at the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research and the Hart- man Institute. He lives in Queens, NY, with his partner, Shir a Hecht - Koller, and their children. Christian Locatell (PhD, Stellenbosch University, 2017) is Golda Meir Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Linguistics at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of Grammatical Polysemy in the Hebrew Bi ble (Brill, forthcoming), an updated re- vision of his doctoral dissertation, and co - editor of Ancient Texts and Modern Readers (Brill, 2019). His research focus is the lin- guistic analysis of biblical and ancient Northwest Semitic lan- guages, with additional work on biblical interpretation and ar- chaeology. xiv New Perspectives in Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew Christo H. J. van der Merwe (DLitt, Stellenbosch University, 1988) is a professor of Ancient Languages at Stellenbosch Uni- versity. His research focuses on Biblical Hebrew linguistics (in particular semantic s and pragmatics); Bible Translation and the teaching of Biblical Hebrew (for special purposes). He served from 2005 to 2019 as source language expert for the 2020 - trans- lation of the Bible in Afrikaans. His most recent book (as co - au- thor) is A Biblical Heb rew Reference Grammar (2nd edition, Lon- don: Bloomsbury, 2017). He is currently the editor of the Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages Cynthia L. Miller - Naudé (PhD, University of Chicago, 1992) is a senior professor in the Department of Hebrew, Universi ty of the Free State (Bloemfontein, South Africa). Her research publica- tions focus on Biblical Hebrew linguistics, especially syntax and pragmatics, the syntactic structures of Shilluk (a Nilo - Saharan language of South Sudan), and Bible translation. She is a co - edi- tor of the series Linguistic Studies in Ancient West Semitic (Ei- senbrauns/Penn State University Press). She also co - edited Dia- chrony in Biblical Hebrew (Eisenbrauns, 2012). Jacobus A. Naudé (DLitt, University of the Free State, 1996) is a senior professor in the Department of Hebrew, University of the Free State (Bloemfontein, South Africa). His research publica- tions focus on Biblical Hebrew linguistics, especially from gener- ative and comple xity theoretical perspectives, religious transla- tion, and translation theory. He serves on the editorial boards of Folia Orientalia and Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages and is Contributors xv a co - editor of the series Linguistic Studies in Ancient West Se- mitic (Eise nbrauns/Penn State University Press). He is a co - au- thor of A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar (2nd edition, Bloomsbury, 2017). Tania Notarius (PhD, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2007) holds the positions of L ecturer in Biblical Hebrew and A n- cient N orthwest Semitic L anguages in the Rothberg International School , The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; L ecturer and Head of the MA Program of Near Eastern Languages at Polis, the Jeru- salem Institute of Languages and Humanities; and A ffiliate R e- searcher at th e University of Free State (Bloemfontein, South Af- rica). Her research focuses on the linguistics of Biblical Hebrew, Ugaritic, and Hebrew and Aramaic epigraphy. She is the author of The Verb in Archaic Biblical Poetry (Brill , 2013) as well as nu- merous arti cles. Na’ama Pat - El (PhD, Harvard University, 2008) is Associate Pro- fessor of Semitic L anguages and L inguistics at the University of Texas, Austin. Her research is focused on historical linguistics, mostly syntactic change, and language contact. She has r ecently edited with John Huehnergard the second edition of The Semitic Languages (Routledge, 2019). Nick Posegay (PhD, University of Cambridge, 2021) is a PhD candidate and a research assistant at the Cambridge Genizah Re- search Unit. His work focuses on cross - cultural contact in the in- tellectual history of the Syriac, Arabic, and Hebrew languages. In xvi New Perspectives in Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew particular, his research publications examine biblical and Qurʾanic scribal traditions, Arabic historical dialectology, Geni- zah history, and medieval linguistic thought. Gary A. Rendsburg (PhD, New York University, 1980) serves as the Blanche and Irving Laurie Distinguis hed Professor of Jewish History at Rutgers University (New Jersey, USA). His teaching and research areas include the history of the Hebrew language, ancient Semitic languages, interconnections between ancient Egypt and ancient Israel, the Dead Sea Scrolls, medieval Hebrew manuscripts, and Jewish life in the Middle Ages. He is the author of seven books and about 190 articles. His most recent book is How the Bible Is Written (Hendrickson, 2019), with particular at- tention to the use of language to create lite rature. In addition, he served as one of the associate editors of Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics (Brill, 2013). Elizabeth Robar (PhD, University of Cambridge, 2013) is author of The Verb and the Paragraph: A Cognitive Linguistic Approac h (Brill, 2014), an adaptation of her doctoral dissertation. She founded Cambridge Digital Bible Research, a charity to make bib- lical scholarship available, accessible, and useful to interpreters of the Bible. Her research is philological, linguistic, and exegeti- cal in nature, focusing on the Biblical Hebrew verbal system, syn- tax, linguistic change, and the ramifications of research in these areas for exegetical interpretation. Contributors xvii Ambjörn Sjörs (PhD, Uppsala University, 2015) is a postdoctoral researcher in Semitic linguistics and philology. His research in- terests include comparative - historical linguistics and the evolu- tion of grammar. His postdoctoral research project is an investi- gation of the ventive and energic verb forms in Semitic. Daniel J. Wilson (PhD, University of the Free State, 2018 ) is the author of Syntactic and Semantic Variation in Copular Sentences: Insights from Classical Hebrew (John Benjamins, 2020), a rework- ing of his dissertation . He is a Research Fellow in the Department of Hebrew at University of the Free State and works in coopera- tion with the Department of Caucasian Languages in the Institute of Linguistics at the Russian Academy of Sciences His research includes the application of formal approaches to syntax and se- mantics to Classical Hebrew. He is also actively engaged in field- work and documentation of endangered languages of the Cauca- sus, writing on interesting morpho - syntactic phenomena as they relate to discussions in theoretical linguistics. Ellen van Wolde (PhD, Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen, 1989) is Professor of Hebrew Bible and Textual Sources of Judaism at Radboud University. Her research focuses on biblical books (es- pecially the Torah and the Writings), on linguistics (especially syntax, semantics , and cognitive grammar), and on methodology (from structuralism and semiotics via literary studies to cognitive linguistic approaches). She considers her book Refr aming Biblical Studies : When Language and Text Meet Culture, Cognition, and Con- text (Eisenbrauns, 2009) her major contribution to the field. The xviii New Perspectives in Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew subtitle expresses her main concern, namely how to study biblical texts in their linguistic, cultural, and cogn itive contexts of origin. Yehonatan Wormser (PhD, University of Haifa, 2017) is the au- thor of Hebrew Grammar in Ahkenaz in Early Modern Times: The Linguistic Theory of Rabbi Zalman Hena (Hanau) (Bialik Institute, in press), an adaptation of his doctoral d issertation. He teaches Hebrew language and linguistics in Efrata College of Education in Jerusalem and Gordon Academic College in Haifa, and serves as Ben - Yehudah fellow in the Department of Hebrew Language at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His resea rch focuses on Jewish linguistic thought during the Middle Ages and early - mod- ern times, and on Rabbinic Hebrew, especially the language of the late Midrashim.