Chapter 4a Hebrew Nouns Introduction

Transcription

1 Chapter 4a Hebrew Nouns Introduction With regard to gender, Hebrew nouns are either masculine or feminine, though a few nouns are both masculine and feminine. With regard to a noun s number, it may be either singular, indicating one; plural, indicating more than one; or dual, indicating only two.

2 Chapter 4b Hebrew Nouns Inflectional Endings Endings on Masculine and Feminine Nouns Masculine Feminine Singular סוּס horse תּוֹר ה law Plural סוּס ים horses תּוֹרוֹת laws Dual סוּס.י ם two horses תּוֹר ת.י ם two laws Summary of Noun Endings Masculine Feminine Singular endingless ב ת/ב ת/ב ה וֹת ב ים Plural Dual ב.י ם/ר ת.י ם ב.י ם

3 Chapter 4c Hebrew Nouns Examples of Singular, Plural and Dual Nouns Masculine Masculine Feminine Feminine Masc/Fem Singular Plural Singular Plural Dual (ms) (mp) (fs) (fp) (md/fd) יוֹמ.י ם מ ל כוֹת מ ל כּ ה סוּס ים סוּס תּוֹר ת.י ם תּוֹרוֹת תּוֹר ה מ ל כ ים מ.ל ך רג ל. י ם חוֹמוֹת חוֹמ ה ד ב ר ים דּ ב ר י ד.י ם בּ נוֹת בּ ת י ל ד ים י <ל ד ע ינ <י ם קשׁ תוֹת ק.שׁ ת י מ ים יוֹם

4 Chapter 4d Hebrew Nouns Lexical Form When looking up a noun in the lexicon, you must search for its lexical form. The lexical form for any noun is the singular form. סוּס ים For example, the lexical form of (mp) is,סוּס the masculine singular form. Likewise, the lexical form of the feminine,תּוֹ רה (fp) is תּוֹרוֹת singular form.

5 Chapter 4e Hebrew Nouns Endingless Feminine Nouns All masculine singular nouns are endingless but not all endingless nouns are masculine singular. In a number of instances, feminine singular nouns are also endingless. The 10 most common endingless feminine singular nouns in the Hebrew Bible are listed below. (2,505) ground land, earth, א. רץ (1,627) hand י ד (1,088) town city, ע יר (757) person soul, life, נ (413) sword ח <פ שׁ. רב (276) stone א. ב ן (251) foot ר.ג ל (220) mother א ם (195) foot hand, palm, sole of the כּ ף.ז ן (188) ear א

6 Chapter 4f Hebrew Nouns Exceptions to Normal Pluralization In the process of pluralizing nouns, some singular nouns of one gender take the plural ending of the other gender. Note, however, that the masculine nouns with feminine plural endings are still masculine in gender and the feminine nouns with masculine plural endings are still feminine in gender. father (ms) א ב (mp) fathers א בוֹת name (ms) שׁ ם (mp) names שׁ מוֹת year (fs) שׁ נ ה (fp) years שׁ נ ים woman (fs) א שּׁ ה (fp) women נ שׁ ים

7 Chapter 4g Hebrew Nouns Special Dual Nouns There are three special Hebrew words that are always dual in form but normally singular in translation. שׁ מ.י ם heaven, heavens מ צ ר.י ם Egypt מ.י ם water

8 Chapter 4h Hebrew Nouns Irregular Stem Change Some Hebrew nouns will alter their (consonantal) stem when the plural endings are added. Singular Plural day יוֹם days י מ ים man א ישׁ men א נ שׁ ים woman א שּׁ ה women נ שׁ ים

9 Chapter 4i Hebrew Nouns וֹת Defective Spelling of The feminine plural ending וֹת may be spelled ת (with Holem rather than Holem Waw). The shorter spelling is called defective spelling and the longer spelling is called full spelling. Singular Plural congregation ע ד ה or ע ד ת ע דוֹת family מ שׁ פּ ח ה מ שׁ פּ ח ת מ שׁ פּ חוֹת or statute ח קּ ה or ח קּ ת ח קּוֹת

10 Chapter 4j Hebrew Nouns Summary of Exceptions 1. Endingless Feminine Nouns. Not all endingless nouns are masculine singular. In a few instances, feminine singular nouns are also endingless as in א. רץ (land), ע יר (city) and א.ב ן (stone). 2. Exception to Normal Pluralization. Some singular nouns of one gender take the plural ending of the other gender. For example, the masculine singular noun א ב (father) takes the.א בוֹת as in וֹת feminine plural ending 3. Special Dual Nouns. There are three special Hebrew words that are always dual in form but normally singular in מ.י ם (Egypt) and מ צ ר.י ם heavens), (heaven, שׁ מ.י ם translation: (water). 4. Irregular Stem Change. Some Hebrew nouns will alter their actual (consonantal) stem when they add their plural endings. For example, the plural of יוֹם (day) is י מ ים (days), the plural of א ישׁ (man) is א נ שׁ ים (men) and the plural of א שּׁ ה (woman) is (women). נ שׁ ים 5. Defective Spelling of.וֹת Occasionally, the feminine plural ending וֹת will be spelled ת (with Holem rather than Holem Waw). For example, the plural of ע ד ה (congregation) may appear either as ע דוֹת or.ע דת The shorter spelling is called defective spelling and the longer spelling is called full spelling.

11 Chapter 4k Hebrew Nouns Patterns of Noun Pluralization 1. Pluralization with No Change Some nouns are pluralized simply with the addition of the masculine or feminine plural ending. Nouns of this type may be monosyllabic with an unchangeable long vowel. They may also be composed of two syllables with Shewa or Hateph Pathach in the first syllable and an unchangeable long vowel in the second syllable. song שׁ יר songs שׁ י רים sign אוֹת signs אוֹתוֹת dream ח לוֹם dreams ח לוֹמוֹת street רחוֹב streets רחוֹבוֹת

12 Chapter 4l Hebrew Nouns Patterns of Noun Pluralization 2. Pluralization with Propretonic Reduction Two-syllable nouns accented on the final syllable and having either Qamets or Tsere in the first or pretonic syllable experience what is called propretonic reduction with the addition of plural endings. With the addition of the plural ending, Qamets or Tsere is placed in an open, propretonic syllable. In an open, propretonic syllable, the Qamets or the Tsere will reduce to Shewa and this is called propretonic reduction. word דּ ב ר words דּ ב רים heart ל ב ב hearts ל ב בוֹת cloud ע נ ן clouds ע נ נ ים courtyard ח צ ר courtyards ח צ רוֹת

13 Chapter 4m Hebrew Nouns Patterns of Noun Pluralization 3. Pluralization of Segholate Nouns Two-syllable nouns accented on the first syllable (penultima) are classified as Segholate nouns. They are called Segholate nouns because they typically have two Seghol vowels as in מ. ל ך (king). Other vowel patterns also appear in this class, usually with at least one Seghol vowel as in ס. פ ר (book), בּ. ק ר (morning) and ז< רע (seed). Even though not spelled with a Seghol, the nouns בּ. ע ל (lord) and נ <ע ר (young man) are also Segholate nouns because they are accented on the first syllable. While the vowel pattern of Segholate nouns will vary in the singular, they will always have the same vowel pattern in the plural. kings מ ל כ ים king מ. ל ך books ס פ רים book ס. פ ר life lives נ פ שׁוֹת נ <פ שׁ swords ח ר בוֹת sword ח. רב

14 Chapter 4n Hebrew Nouns Patterns of Noun Pluralization 4. Pluralization of Geminate Nouns Most Geminate nouns have only two consonants in the singular as in ע ם (people). Actually, Geminate nouns originally had three consonants. For example, the Hebrew word for people (ע ם) was originally spelled.עמם When Geminate nouns are pluralized, the consonant that originally appeared twice will now be written once with Daghesh Forte. The Daghesh Forte represents the lost Geminate consonant. peoples ע מ ים people ע ם statutes ח ק ים statute ח ק arrow arrows ח צ ים ח ץ

15 Chapter 4o Hebrew Nouns Patterns of Noun Pluralization 5. Irregular Pluralization A number of nouns are irregular and unpredictable in their pluralization. Below are some of the most common examples. sons בּ נ ים son בּ ן men א נ שׁ ים man א ישׁ women נ שׁ ים woman א שּׁ ה cities ע רים city ע יר fathers א בוֹת father א ב house houses בּ,תּ ים בּ.י ת daughters בּ נוֹת daughter בּ ת days י מ ים day יוֹם

16 Chapter 4p Hebrew Nouns Patterns of Noun Pluralization: Summary 1. Pluralization with No Change song שׁ יר songs שׁ י רים dream ח לוֹם dreams ח לוֹמוֹת 2. Pluralization with Propretonic Reduction word דּ ב ר words דּ ב רים cloud ע נ ן clouds ע נ נ ים 3. Pluralization of Segholate Nouns king מ. ל ך kings מ ל כ ים book ס. פ ר books ס פ רים 4. Pluralization of Geminate Nouns people ע ם peoples ע מ ים statute ח ק statutes ח ק ים 5. Irregular Pluralization son בּ ן sons בּ נ ים man א ישׁ men א נ שׁ ים

17 Chapter 4q Hebrew Nouns Advanced Information: Rules of Shewa Rule 1 Hebrew will not allow two contiguous (side-by-side) Vocal Shewas at the beginning of a word. In such a circumstance, the first Vocal Shewa becomes Hireq. ל נ ב יא ים ל נ ב יא ים Rule 2 Vocal Shewa cannot precede a guttural consonant with a reduced (Hateph) vowel. In such a circumstance, the first syllable takes the corresponding short vowel of the reduced vowel. בּ ח לוֹם בּ ח לוֹם