51 Derived Conjugations

B. VERBA DERIVATIVA, OR DERIVED CONJUGATIONS.

§ 51. NiphÇal.¹

a

1. The essential characteristic of this conjugation consists in a prefix² to the stem. This exists in two forms: (a) the (probably original) prepositive naç, as in the Hebrew perfect and participle, although in the strong verb the aç is always attenuated to iç: lj;q.nI for original naç–qaçtÌaçl, participle lj'q.nI, infinitive absolute sometimes lAjq.nI; (b) the (later) proclitic in (as in all the forms of the corresponding Arabic conjugation VII. Èinqaçtaçlaç), found in the imperfect ljeQ'yI for yinqaÒtÌeÒl, in the imperative and infinitive construct, with a secondary h added, ljeQ'hi (for hinqaÒtÌeÒl), and in the infinitive absolute ljoQ'hi. The inflexion of NiphÇal is perfectly analogous to that of Qal.

b
The features of NiphÇal are accordingly in the perfect and participle the prefixed NuÖn, in the imperative, infinitive, and imperfect, the Dagesë in the first radical. These characteristics hold good also for the weak verb. In the case of an initial guttural, which, according to § 22 b, cannot take Dagesë forte, the omission of the strengthening invariably causes the lengthening of the preceding vowel (see § 63 h).

c

2. As regards its meaning, NiphÇal bears some resemblance to the Greek middle voice, in being—(a) primarily reflexive of Qal, e. g. #x;l.nI to thrust oneself (against), rm;v.nI to take heed to oneself, fula,ssesqai, rT;s.nI to hide oneself, la;g>nI to redeem oneself; cf. also hn<[]n); to answer for oneself. Equally characteristic of NiphÇal is its frequent use to express emotions which react upon the mind; ~x;nI to touble oneself, xn:a/n), to sigh (to bemoan oneself, cf. ovdu,resqai, lamentari, contristari); as well as to express actions which the subject allows to happen to himself, or to have an effect upon himself (NiphÇal tolerativum), e. g. vr;D' to search, to inquire, Niph. to allow oneself to be inquired of, Is 65:1 Ez 14:3, &c.; so the Niph. of ac'm' to find, rs;y" to warn, to correct, Jer 6:8, 31:18, &c.

d

(b) It expresses reciprocal or mutual action. e. g. rB,DI to speak, Niph. to speak to one another; jp;v' to judge, Niph. to go to law with one another; #[;y" to counsel, Niph. to take counsel, cf. the middle and deponent verbs bouleu,esqai (#[;An), ma,cesqai (~x;l.n>), altercari, luctari (hC'nI to strive with one another) proeliari.

e

(c) It has also, like HithpaÇeÒl (§ 54 f) and the Greek middle, the meaning of the active, with the addition of to oneself (sibi), for oneself, e. g. la;v.nI to ask (something) for oneself (1 S 20:6, 28, Neh 13:6), cf. aivtou/mai, se tou/to( evndu,sasqai citw/na, to put on (oneself) a tunic.

f

(d) In consequence of a looseness of thought at an early period of the language, NiphÇal comes finally in many cases to represent the passive³ of Qal, e. g. dl;y" to bear, Niph. to be born; dk;q' to bury, Niph. to be buried. In cases where Qal is intransitive in meaning, or is not used, NiphÇal appears also as the passive of PiÇeÒl and HiphÇiÖl, e. g. dbeK' to be in honour, PiÇeÒl to honour, Niph. to be honoured (as well as PuÇal dB;Ku); dx;K' PiÇeÒl to conceal, Hiph. to destroy, Niph. passive of either. In such cases NiphÇal may again coincide in meaning with Qal (hl'x' Qal and Niph. to be ill) and even take an accusative.

g
Examples of denominatives are, rK;z>nI to be born a male, Ex 34:19 (from rk'z"; but probably rk'W"h; should here be read); bB;l.nI cordatum fieri Jb 11:12 (from bb'le cor); doubtless also hn"b.nI to obtain children, Gn 16:2, 30:3.

h
The older grammarians were decidedly wrong in representing NiphÇal simply as the passive of Qal; for NiphÇal has (as the frequent use of its imperat. shows), in no respect the character of the other passives, and in Arabic a special conjugation (Èinqaçtaçlaç) corresponds to it with a passive of its own. Moreover, the forms mentioned in § 52 e point to a differently formed passive of Qal.—The form Wla]g*on> Is 59:3, La 4:14, is not to be regarded as a passive of NiphÇal, but with König and Cheyne as a forma mixta, in the sense that the punctuators intended to combine two optional readings, Wla]g>nI, perf. Niph., and Wla]G*o, perf. PuÇal [cf. also Wright, Compar. Gramm., p. 224]. Although the passive use of NiphÇal was introduced at an early period, and became tolerably common, it is nevertheless quite secondary to the reflexive use.

i
Rem. 1. The infin. absol. lAjq.nI is connected in form with the perfect, to which it bears the same relation as, lAjq' to lj;q' in Qal, the oÖ in the second syllable being obscured from an original aÖ. Examples are, @sok.nI Gn 31:30; sxol.nI Ju 11:25; laov.nI 1 S 20:6, 28, all in connexion with the perfect.

k
Examples of the form ljoQ'hi (in connexion with imperfects) are, !toN"hi Jer 32:4; lkoa'h†e Lv 7:18; once vrD'ai Ez 14:3, where, perhaps, the subsequent vreD'ai has led to the substitution of a for h.—Moreover, the form ljeQ'hi is not infrequently used also for the infin. absol.,⁴ e. g. Ex 22:3, Nu 15:31, Dt 4:26, 1 K 20:39. On the other hand, @deN"hiK. should simply be read for the wholly abnormal @Don>hiK. y Ps 68:3 (commonly explained as being intended to correspond in sound with the subsequent @Don>Ti, but probably a 'forma mixta', combining the readings @deN"hiK. and @don>Ki).

l
Elision of the h after prepositions is required by the Masora in Alv.K†'Bi Pr 24:17 (for äK'hiB.), greh'B†e Ez 26:15 @je['B†e La 2:11; also in verbs h¾¾l Ex 10:3 (tAn['l†e); 34:24, Dt 31:11, Is 1:12 (tAar'l†e); in verbs W¾¾[ Jb 33:30 (rAale). It is, however, extremely doubtful whether the infin. Qal of the K^ethiÖbh is not rather intended in all these examples; it certainly is so in La 2:11, cf. y Ps 61:3.

m
2. Instead of the SÍere in the ultima of the imperfect, PathahÌ often occurs in pause, e. g. lm†;G"YIw: Gn 21:8; cf. Ex 31:17, 2 S 12:15 (with final v); 17:23 (with q); Jon 1:5 (withm); see § 29 q. In the 2nd and 3^rd plur. fem. PathahÌ predominates, e. g. hn"r>k;ñW"Ti Is 65:17; SÍere occurs only in hn"gEò['T†e Ru 1:13, from !g[, and hence, with loss of the doubling, for hN"gEò['T†e; cf. even hn"m†;a'T†e Is 60:4.—With NuÖn paragogicum (see § 47 m) in the 2nd and 3^rd plur. masc. are found, !Wdk.L†'yIÃ !Wmx]L†'Ti &c., in pause !WlheB†'yIÃ !WdmeV†'Ti, &c.; but Jb 19:24 (cf. 24:24) !Wb)c.x†'yE.

n
3. When the imperfect, the infinitive (in eÒ), or the imperative is followed in close connexion by a monosyllable, or by a word with the tone on the first syllable, the tone is, as a rule (but cf. vyai qbea'*YEw: Gn 32:25), shifted back from the ultima to the penultima, while the ultima, which thus loses the tone, takes S^eghoÖl instead of SÍere; e. g. HB' lv,K'ñyI Ez 33:12; Al rt,['ñYEw: Gn 25:21; in the imperative, 13:9.—So always ^l. rm,V'ñhi (since ^l. counts as one syllable) Gn 24:6, &c., cf. 1 S 19:2; and even with PathahÌ in the ultima, #r,a+' bw:['ñTe Jb 18:4 (but cf. ~yhil{a/ rteñ['†YEw: 2 S 21:14). Although in isolated cases (e. g. Gn 32:25, Ezr 8:23) the tone is not thrown back, in spite of a tone-syllable following, the retraction has become usual in certain forms, even when the next word begins with a toneless syllable; especially after w consec., e. g. ra,V'ñYIw: Gn 7:23; ~x,L'ñYIw: Nu 21:1 and frequently, rm,C'òYIw: 25:3; and always so in the imperative rm,V'hi Ex 23:21, Jb 36:21, and (before Metheg of the counter-tone) Dt 24:8, 2 K 6:9. On the avoidance of pausal-forms in the imperative (Am 2:12 with Silluq, Zc 2:11 with AthnahÌ), and imperfect (Pr 24:4, &c.), see § 29 o, and note; on the other hand, always jleM'hiÃ jleM'yI, &c.

o
In the imperative, WcB.q.nI, for Wcb.Q†'hi, with the rejection of the initial h, occurs in Is 43:9, and in Joel 4:11 in pause WcB+'q.nI (cf. Wwl.nIJer 50:5); but in these examples either the reading or the explanation is doubtful. The 2nd sing. imperat. of [B;v.nI is always (with h¤' paragogicum) yLi h['b.V'ñhi swear to me, Gn 21:23, &c. (also, yli h['b.V†'hi Gn 47:31, 1 S 30:15).

p
4. For the 1st sing. of the imperfect, the form ljeQ'ai is as frequent as ljeQ'a,, e. g. vreD'ai I shall be inquired of, Ez 14:3; [;beV'ai I will swear, Gn 21:24; cf. 16:2, Nu 23:15, Ez 20:36, and so always in the cohortative, e. g. hm'q.N)'ai I will avenge me, Is 1:24; cf. 1 S 12:7, Ez 26:2, and in the impf. Niph. of w¾¾p (§ 69 t). The Babylonian punctuation admits only iç under the preformative of the 1st person.

Footnotes:

¹[1] Cf. A. Rieder, De linguae Hebr. verbis, quae vocantur derivata nifal et hitpael, Gumbinnen (Progr. des Gymn.), 1884, a list of all the strong NiphÇal forms (81) and HithpaÇeÒl forms (36) in the Old Testament; and especially M. Lambert, 'L'emploi du Nifal en HeÃbreu,' REJ. 41, 196 ff.

²[2] See Philippi in ZDMG. 1886, p. 650, and Barth, ibid. 1894, p. 8 f.

³[1] Cf. Halfmann, Beiträge zur Syntax der hebräischen Sprache, 1. Stück, Wittenb., 1888, 2. St. 1892 (Gymn.-Programm), statistics of the NiphÇal (PuÇal, HophÇal, and qaÒtÌuÖl) forms at different periods of the language, for the purpose of ascertaining the meaning of Niph. and its relation to the passive; the selection of periods is, however, very questionable from the standpoint of literary criticism.

⁴[2] But, like ljoQ'hi, only in connexion with imperfects, except Jer 7:9. Barth is therefore right in describing (Nominalbildung, p. 74) both forms as later analogous formations (in addition to the original Semitic lAjq.nI), intended to assimilate the infinitive to the imperfect which it strengthens.