THE WEAKEST VERBS (Verba Quiescentia).

§ 68. Verbs a¾¾p e. g. lk;a' to eat.

Brockelmann, Semit. Sprachwiss., p. 140 ff.; Grundriss, p. 589 ff.

a

So far as a retains its full consonantal value as a guttural, these verbs share all the peculiarities of verbs primae gutturalis, mentioned in § 63. They are, however, to be treated as weak verbs, when the a loses its value as a consonant, and coalesces with the preceding vowel (originally short) to form one long syllable. This takes place only in the fullowing very common verbs and forms, as if through phonetic decay: —

b

1. In the imperfect Qal, five verbs (viz. db;a' to perish, hb'a' to be willing, lk;a' to eat, dm;a' to say, hp'a' to bake) regularly make the a quiesce in a long oÖ, e. g. lk;aoy.1 In a few others the ordinary (strong) form is also in use, as zxeaoy (18 times) and zxoa/y), (3 times) he takes hold; @seyO (see h), also @soa/y),, he collects. This oÖ has primarily arisen from an obscuring of aÖ. (§ 9 q), and the aÖ from a.¤;, the weak consonant a coalescing with aç to aÖ; cf. § 23 a.

c

In the second syllable oÒ (for original uç) never appears, but either eÒ2 or aç; and in pause almost always eÒ, even before the tone-bearing heavy afformative !W, e. g. !Wlkeaoy* Dt 18:1, without the pause !Wlk.aoy* Dt 4:28. In the 3rd sing.masc. and 1st sing. of rm;a', however, aç is always retained in pause, rm;ñaoy and rm;ñao; but in the 2nd masc. rm+eaoT 1 K 5:20, in the 3rd fem. rm†eaoT Pr 1:21; in the plural Wrm+eaoy Jer 5:2, y Ps 145:6, 11, WrmeñaoT Jer 23:38, with Segolta; cf. also lk†;aoT 1 S 1:7, &c. But with conjunctive accents in the body of the sentence, aç (as being a lighter vowel) is used, e. g. d[†;l' db;aoT y Ps 9:19, but in pause db†eaoT y Ps 1:6; cf. a similar interchange of eÒ and aç in § 65 c. The 3rd fem. plur. impf. always has the form hn"l.k;ñaoT Zc 11:9.

d

When the tone moves back, the final syllable of the imperfects of db;a' and lk;a' with a conjunctive accent, also always takes PathahÌ, e. g. ~Ay db;aoyæ Jb 3:3, lk;aoYñw: and he did eat; in rm;a' the loss of the tone from the final syllable only occurs in the form with waÒw consecutive (but never in the 1st sing. rm;aow)'; cf. lk;aow)'), and then the final syllable, if without the pause, always takes seghoÖl, rm,aoYñw: and he said (except Al rm;aoTñw: Pr 7:13).

e

In p ause, however, the imperfect consecutive (except the 1st pers. of lk;a', see below) always has the form lk;ñaoYw: (but plur. always Wlkeñaoy Ã WlkeñaoYw:), rm;ñaoYw:; except dm;aoYñw: in the poetic portion of the book of Job, as 3:2, 4:1, &c., but not in 32:6, in the middle of the verse. The weak imperfect of zx;a' is always zxeaoy and zx,aoYw:, but in the 1st sing., according to § 49 e, zxeñaow)' Ju 20:6; cf. lkeñaow)' Gn. 3:12, 13 in pause. — hb'a' and hp'a' are, at the same time, verbs h¾¾l, hence imperfect hB,aoy (§ 75 c).

f

Before light suffixes the vowel of the second syllable becomes vocal Sewa», as ~lek.aoy) ÃWNl,ñk.aoT), but ~k,l.k;aoT). — In a few cases, instead of the oÖ in the first syllable an eÖ is found, which is due to contraction from the group ¤/¤†, (or ¤.¤,) in place of ¤.¤;; e. g. ht,aTe it shall come, Mi 4:8, from ht,a/T†, (from ht'a'); bh†'ae (for bh;ae) I love, Pr 8:17, also (four times) bh,ao Mal 1:2, &c., with suffixes Whbeñh]a†o Ho 11:1, 14:5, &c. (but only in 1st sing., other wise bh;a/y),, &c., from bhea'àbh;a'); rx;ñaew)' and I stayed, Gn 32:5. The infinitive construct of rm;a' with l. is always rmoale dicendo, for, rmoa/l†,. — According to Barth (ZDMG. 1889, p. 179) lc,aY"òw: Nu 11:25 is to be regarded as an imperfect Qal, without the obscuring of a¤' to oÖ, not as imperfect HiphÇiÖl, since lca else where occurs only in the perfect Qal and NiphÇal; on the original i in tho second syllable, see above, § 67 p. For Whlek.ña'T. Jb 20:26 we should simply emend  älk.aoT); the view that it is imperfect poÖÇeÒl (which nowhere else occurs) can, as regards the change of oÖ tooi, be supported only by the very doubtful analogies of y Ps 62:4 (see 52 q) and y Ps 101:5 QereÖ(see § 55 b), while the view that it is PiÇeÒl ( äk.a'T.= äk.a†'T.= äK.a;T.) rests on no analogy whatever. It would be more admissible to suppose that  äk.a'T. stands for  äK.auT., PuÇal (cf. ^l.k,a] for ^L.k;a], § 27 q); but no reason has been discovered for this departure from the natural punctuation  äb.aoT.

g

2. In the 1st pers, sing, imperfect, where two a¾s would ordinarily come together, the second (which is radical) is regularly dropped (§ 23 f), as rm;ao3. (for rm;aao), &c., and even plene rm;Aaw)' Neh 2:7, &c., hr'm.Aa) y Ps 42:10. In the other cases, also, where the a is ordinarily regarded as quiescing in oÖ or eÖ, it is only retained orthographically, and on etymological grounds. Hence the possibility of its being dropped in the following cases: —

h

Always in the contracted forms of @s;a', as @seTo for @seaTo y Ps 104:29; @s,YOw: 2 S 6:1 (but for @sea'*yE Jb 27:19 read @siaoy=@siAy with the LXX); cf. also in the 1st pers. Mi 4:6and ^p.s†iao 1 S 15:6, which is apparently (from the Metheg with the i), intended for an imperfect HiphÇil: instead of it, however, read, with the Mantua edition, ^p.sia)o (with iç, according to § 60 f). But !WpsiaoT) Ex 5:7 (for  äsAT)), @s,aoYòw: 1 S 18:29 (for @s,AYòw:), and @say Jb 27:19 (see above) are due to a mistake, since all three forms must be derived from the stem @s;y". Furthermore, ^Wrñm.y)o y Ps 139:20 (where certainly  ärm.y: is to be read); abeTo Pr 1:10 (cf. § 75 hh); WhpeñTow: 1 S 28:24; Wlk.Ay Ez 42:5; Wrm.T)o 2 S 19:14; zx,Toñw: 2 S 20:9; yliz>T†e thou gaddest about (from lw:a'), Jer 2:36; ateYEòw: Dt 33:21 (for ht,a/y),), according to other readings (on the analogy of the cases mentioned in § 75 p)ateñyEw:, at,YEòw: or at,Y<òw:.

Paradigm I shows the weak fonms of the imperfect Qal, and merely indicates the other conjugations, which are regular.

i

Rem. 1. In the derivod conjugations only isolated weak forms occur: Perfect Niphal Wzx]aon* Nu 32:30, Jos 22:9; Hiph. lc,aY"òw: Nu 11:25 (but the statement in verse 17 is yTil.c;a†'w>, the therefore Qal); equally doubtful is the punctuation of br,Y"òw: (for brea]Y);w:?) and he laid wait, 1 S 15:5, and !yzIa' I listen, Jb 32:11 (on the analogy of verbs W¾¾[); cf. also lykiAa (oÖ from aÖ) I give to eat, Hos 11:4; hd'ybiñao (oÖ from aÖ) I will destroy, Jer 46:8; rx,AYw: 2 S 20:5 QereÖ (for  äxaY"w:); the KethiÖbh appears to require the PiÇeÒl rxey:Y>w:, from rxY as a secondary form of rxa; but rx;yYEw:= rx;aYEw: for rx;a/Y†,w: as imperfect Qal is not impossible. On hr'c.a)w" Neh 13:13, cf § 53 n. — Infinitive lybih'l. Ez 21:33 (=  äka]h†;l. unless it is rather infin. Hiph. from lWK); Participle !yzIme giveth ear, Pr 17:4 (clearly by false analogy of verbs W¾¾, for !yzIa]m†;); Imperative Wyt'ñhe bring (from ht'a') Jer 12:9. (On the same form used for the perfect in Is 21:14, cf. § 76 d.)

k

2. In the PiÇeÒl the a is sometimes elided (like h in lyjiq.h;y> Ã lyjiq.y:), thus @Lem; (as in Aramaic and Samaritan) teaching, for @Lea;m. Jb 35:11; lhey: (if not a mere scribal error) for lhea;y> Is 13:20; ynIreñT;w: thou hast girded me, 2 S 22:40, for ynIreñW>a;T.w:, as y Ps 18:40; ^d>B,a;w)' Ez 28:16; cf. § 23 c.

Footnotes:

1[1] So in the modern vulgar Arabic of South Palestine, yaÈkul (he eats) becomes yoÖkul.

2[2] On this eÒ (originally iç) as a dissimilation trom oÒ(originally uç), cf. § 27 w, and F. Philippi, in the Zeitschrift für Völkerpsychologie und Sprachwissenschaft, XIV. 178. The latter rightly observes that the existence of an original u in the imperfect of lk;a' is indicated by the form of the imperative lkoa/, the Arabic yaÈkul and the Aramaic lkuayE, as well as by the fact that zxoa/y), and @soa/y), are found along with zxeaoy and @seaoy.

3[1] The regularity of this orthography indicates that the contraction of a.a; to aÖ in this 1st pers. occurred at a time when in the 3rd and 2nd persons the a was still audible as a consonant (which accordingly was almost always retained in writing). Nöldeke (ZDMG. xxxii. 593) infers this from the fact that also in Arabic the 3rd and 2nd persons are still written yaçÈkuçluç, taçÈkuçluç, but the 1st pers. ’aÖkuçluç,not ’açÈkuçluç