§ 58. The Pronominal Suffixes of the Verb.

Cf. the statistics collected by H. Petri, Das Verbum mit Suffixen im Hebr., part ii, in the ~ynXar ~yaybn, Leipzig, 1890. W. Diehl, Das Pronomen pers. suff. … des Hebr., Giessen, 1895. J. Barth, 'Beiträge zur Suffixlehre des Nordsem.,' AJSL. xvii (1901), p. 205 f. Brockelmann, Semit. Sprachwiss., i. 159 f.; Grundriss, p. 638 ff.

a

1. The pronominal suffixes appended to the verb express the accusative of the personal pronoun. They are the following: —

A.

B.

C.

To a form ending in a vowel.

To a form in the Perf ending in a consonant.

To a form in the Imperf. ending in a consonant.

Sing.1.com. ynI¤ñ

yn¤;ñ (in pause ynI¤'ñ)

ynI¤eñ me.

2. m. ^¤ñ

^¤. (in pause ^¤,ñ, also %¤')

thee.

f. %¤

%¤e %¤,ñ, rarely %¤'

%¤e

3. m. Wh¤ñàA

Wh¤'ñàA¿hoÀ

Wh¤eñ him.

f. h'¤ñ

H¤'

h'¤,ñ her.

plur. 1. com. Wn¤ñ

Wn¤'ñ

Wn¤eñ us

2. m. ~k,¤

~k,¤. you (vos).

f. . . . . .1

3. m. ~h,,2 ~

~¤' (from ~h,¤'ñ), ~¤'ñ

~¤e (from ~h,¤eñ) eos

poet. Am¤ñ

Am¤'ñ

Am¤eñ

f. !¤

!¤'à!¤;ñ

. . . . .3 eas.

b

2. That these suffixes are connected with the corresponding forms of the personal pronoun (§ 32) is for the most part self-evident, and only a few of them require elucidation.

c

The suffixes ynIàWnàWhàh' (and ^, when a long vowel in an open syllable precedes) never have the tone, which always rests on the preceding syllable; on the other hand, ~k, and ~h, always take the tone.

d

In the 3rd pers. masc. Wh¤'ñ, by contraction of a and u after the rejection of the weak h, frequently gives rise to oÖ (§ 23 k), ordinarily written A, much less frequently ho (see § 7 c). In the feminine, the suffix h' should be pronounced with a preceding a (cf. below, f, note), as h'¤'ñ or h'¤,ñ, on the analogy of aÒhuÖ; instead of h'¤'ñ, however, it was simply pronounced H¤', with the rejection of the final vowel, and with Mappiq, since the h is consonantal; but the weakening to h¤' is also found, see below, g.

e

3. The varietyof the suffix-forms is occasioned chiefly by the fact that they are modified differently according to the form and tense of the verb to which they are attached. For almost every suffix three forms may be distinguished:

(a) One beginning with a consonant, as ynI¤ñàWh¤ñàw (only after iÖ), Wn¤ñ, (~h,) ~, &c. These are attached to verbal forms which end with a vowel, e. g. ynIWlñj.q.yIÈ WhyTiñl.j;q., for which by absorption of the h we also get wyTil.j;q., pronounced qetÌaltiÖu; cf. § 8 m.

f

(b) A second and third with what are called connecting vowels4 (ynI¤;ñàynI¤eñ), used with verbal forms ending with a consonant (for exceptions, see § 59 g and § 60 e). This connecting vowel is a with the forms of the perfect, e. g. ynIl;ñj'q.àWnl'ñj'q.à~l'j'q. (on %lej'q., the ordinary form of the 3rd masc. perf. with the 2nd fem. suffix, cf. below, g); and e (less frequently a) with the forms of the imperfect and imperative, e. g. Whleñj.q.yIà~lej.q'; also with the infinitive and participles, when these do not take noun-suffixes (cf. § 61 a and h). The form A also belongs to the suffixes of the perfect, since it has arisen from Wh¤'ñ (cf., however, § 60 d ). With ^à~k,, the connecting sound is only a vocal SèewaÖ, which has arisen from an original short vowel, thus ^¤.à~k,¤., e. g. ^l.j†'q. (qetÌaÒlekhaÒ), or when the final consonant of the verb is a guttural, ^¤], e. g. ^x]l†'v.. In pause, the original short vowel (aç;) reappears as SeghoÖl with the tone ^¤,ñ (also %¤'ñ, see g). On the appending of suffixes to the final !W of the imperfect (§ 47 m), see § 60 e.

g

Rem. 1. As rare forms may be mentioned sing. 2nd pers. masc. hk'¤. Gn 27:7, 1 K 18:44, &c., in pause also hK'¤,ñ (see below, i); fem. ykiàyki¤eñ y Ps 103:4, 137:6. Instead of the form %¤e, which is usual even in the perfect (e. g. Ju 4:20, Ez 27:26), %¤' occurs as fem. Is 60:9 (as masc. Dt 6:17, 28:45, Is 30:19, 55:5 always in pause); with MunahÌ Is 54:6, Jer 23:37.—In the 3rd masc. ho Ex 32:25, Nu 23:8; in the 3rd fem. h¤' without MappiÖq (cf. § 91 e) Ex 2:3, Jer 44:19; Am 1:11, with retraction of the tone before a following tone-syllable, but read certainly xc;n<òl' rm;v'.—The forms Am¤ñàAm¤'ñàAm¤eñ occur 23 times, all in poetry5 (except Ex 23:31) [viz. with the perfect Ex 15:10, 23:31, y Ps 73:6; with the imperfect Ex 15:5 (Wm for Am), 15:7, 9, 9, 12, 15, 17, 17, y Ps 2:5, 21:10, 13, 22:5, 45:17, 80:6, 140:10; with the imperative y Ps 5:11, 59:12, 12, 83:12]. On the age of these forms, see § 91 l 3; on z¤; and z¤' as suffixes of the 3rd fem. plur. of the imperfect, § 60 d.— In Gn 48:9 an"-~x,q†' (cf. ~v'-~K,Y:W: 1 Ch 14:11 according to Baer), ~¤e has lost the tone before Maqqeph and so is shortened to ~¤,.—In Ez 44:8 !WmyfiT.w: is probably only an error for ~WmyfiT.w:.

h

2. From a comparison of the verbal suffixes with the noun-suffixes (§ 91) we find that (a) there is a greater variety of forms amongst the verbal than amongst the noun-suffixes, the forms and relations of the verb itself being more various;—(b) the verbal suffix, where it differs from that of the noun, is longer; cf. e. g. ynI¤ñàynI¤;ñàynI¤eñ (me) with y¤i (my). The reason is that the pronominal object is less closely connected with the verb than the possessive pronoun (the genitive) is with the noun; consequently the former can also be expressed by a separate word (ta in ytiao, &c.).

i

4. A verbal form with a suffix gains additional strength, and some times intentional emphasis, when, instead of the mere connecting vowel, a special connecting-syllable6 (açn)7 is inserted between the suffix and the verbal stem. Since, however, this syllable always has the tone, the aç is invariably (except in the 1st pers. sing.) modified to tone-bearing SeghoÖl. This is called the NuÖn energicum8 (less suitably demonstrativum or epentheticum), and occurs principally (see, however, Dt 32:10 bis) in pausal forms of the imperfect, e. g. Whn>k†,r]b†'y> he will bless him (y Ps 72:15, cf. Jer 5:22), &'n>q,ñT.a, Jer 22:24; ynIn>d'B.k;ñy> he will honour me (y Ps 50:23) is unusual; rarely in the perfect, Dt 24:13 &'k,r>B†e. On examples like yNIn:òD', Gn 30:6, cf. § 26 g, § 59 f. In far the greatest number of cases, however, this NuÖn is assimilated to the following consonant (nàk), or the latter is lost in pronunciation (so h), and the NuÖn consequently sharpened. Hence we get the following series of suffix-forms:—

1 st pers. yNI¤;ñ (even in pause, Jb 7:14, &c.), yNI¤,ñ (for yNIN>¤;ñàynIn>¤,ñ).

2 nd pers. &'¤,ñ (Jer 22:24 in pause &'n>¤,) and, only orthographically different, hK'¤,ñ (Is 10:24, Pr 2:11 in pause).

3 rd pers. WN¤,ñ (for Whn>¤,ñ),9 fem. hN"¤,ñ for h'n>¤,ñ.

[ 1st pers. plur. WN¤,ñ (for Wnn>¤,ñ), see the Rem.]

In the other persons NuÖn energetic does not occur.

k

Rem. The uncontracted forms with NuÖn are rare, and occur only in poetic or elevated style (Ex 15:2, Dt 32:10 [bis], Jer 5:22, 22:24); they are never found in the 3rd fem. sing. and 1st plur.On the other hand, the contracted forms are tolerably frequent, even in prose. An example of WN¤,ñ as 1st plur. occurs perhaps in Jb 31:15 [but read Wn¤eñ and cf. § 72 cc], hardly in Ho 12:5; cf. WNN<ñhi behold us, Gn 44:16, 50:18, Nu 14:40 for Wnn>hi (instead of WnN>hi; see § 20 m).— In Ez 4:12 the Masora requires hn"g<ò[uT., without Dagesë in the NuÖn.

l

That the forms with NuÖn energicum are intended to give greater emphasis to the verbal form is seen from their special frequency in pause. Apart from the verb, however, NuÖn energicum occurs also in the union of suffixes with certain particles (§ 100 o).
This NuÖn is frequent in Western Aramaic. In Arabic the corresponding forms are the two energetic moods (see § 48 b) ending in an and anna, which are used in connexion with suffixes (e. g. yaqtulan-ka or yaqtulanna-ka) as well as without them.

Footnotes:

1[1] According to Diehl (see above), p. 61, ~k, occurs only once with the perfect (see § 59 e), 7 times with the imperfect, but never in pre-exilic passages, whereas the accus. ~k,t.a, occurs 40 times in Jer. and 36 times in Ezek. — ~h, occurs only once as a verbal suffix (Dt 32:26, unless, with Kahan, Infinititve u. Participien, P. 13, ~heyaip.a; from Ha;P' is to be read), while the forms !k, (2nd f. pl.) and  !¤e and !h, (3rd f pl.), added by QimhÌi, never occur.

4[1] We have kept the term connecting vowel, although it is rather a superficial description, and moreover these vowels are of various origin. The connective a is most probably the remains of the old verbal termination, like the i in the 2nd pers. fem. sing. WhyTiñl.j;q.. Observe e. g. the Hebrew form qetÌaÒl–ani in connexion with the Arabic qatala-ni, contrasted with Hebrew qetÌaÒlat–ni and Arabic qatalat-ni. König accordingly prefers the expression 'vocalic ending of the stem', instead of 'connecting syllable'. The connective eÒ, aÎÒ, as Prätorius (ZDMG. 55, 267 ff.) and Barth (ibid. p. 205 f.) show by reference to the Syriac connective ai in the imperf. of the strong verb, is originally due to the analogy of verbs y¾¾l (ynIxem. = ynIyxem. from mehÌainiÖ), in which the final eÖ was used as a connecting vowel first of the imperat., then of the impf. (besides many forms with a, § 60 d), and of the infin. and participle.

5[1] Thus in y Ps 2 Am¤ occurs five times [four times attached to a noun or preposition, §§ 91 f, 103 c], and ~¤e only twice.

6[2] It is, however, a question whether, instead of a connecting syllable, we should not assume a special verbal form, analogous to the Arabic energetic mood, (see l, at the end) and probably also appearing in the Hebrew cohortative (see the footnote on § 48 c).—As M. Lambert has shown in REJ. 1903, p. 178 ff. (' De lÈemploi des suffixes pronominaux …'), the suffixes of the 3rd. pers. with the impf. without waw in prose are WN¤,ñ and hN"¤,ñ but with waw consec. Wh¤eñ and h'¤,ñ or H¤; with the jussive in the 2nd and 3rd pers. always Wh¤eñàh'¤,ñ, in the 1st pers. more often WN¤,ñ than Wh¤eñ, and always hN"¤,ñ.

7[3] According to Barth 'n-haltige Suffixe' in SprachwisÌs. Untersuchungen, Lpz. 1907, p. 1 ff., the connecting element, as in Aramaic, was originally in, which in Hebrew became en in a closed tone-syllable.

8[4] So König, Lehrgeb., i. p. 226.

9[1] On An = WN¤, Nu 23:13, see § 67 o.