§ 86. Denominative Nouns.

a

1. Such are all nouns formed immediately from another noun, whether the latter be primitive or derived from a verb, e. g.!Amd>q; eastern, immediately from ~d,q,ñ the east (verbal stem ~d;q' to be in front).

b

2. Most of the forms which nouns of this class assume have already been given in §§ 84 and 85, since the denominatives, as secondary (although in some cases very old ) forms, invariably follow the analogy of the verbal derivatives. As, for instance, the verbals with a prefixed m (§ 85 e to m) express the place, & c., of an action, so the denominatives with m local represent the place where a thing is found or its neighbourhood (see e).

c

The most common forms of denominatives are —
1. Those like the participle Qal (§ 84a s), e. g.r[evo a porter, from r[;v;ñ a gate; rqeBo a herdsman, from rq'B' a herd; ~reKo a vine dresser, from ~r,K,ñ a vineyard.

d

2. Those like the form qaÁtæÌaÒl (§ 84b b) e. g. tV'q; an archer, from tv,q,ñ a bow. Both these forms ( c and d ) indicate customary occupations, inhering in the subject, like Greek nouns in thj( teu,j, e. g. poli,thj( grammateu,j.

e

3. Nouns with m prefixed, denoting the place where a thing is (cf. § 85 e), or its neighbourhood, e. g.!y"[.m; a place of fountains, from !yI[;ñ ’ tAlG>r>m; the place about the feet, tAva]r†;m. the place about the head, from lg<r,ñ; vaor ’ hv'q.mi (for ha'v.q.mi) a cucumber field, from aVuqi cucumber. Cf. avmpelw,n from a;mpeloj.

f

4. Nouns with the termination !¤' or !A expressing adjectival ideas: !Amd>q; eastern, from ~d,q,ñ ’ !Arx]a†; posterior, from rx;a; ’ !Acyxi exterior, from #Wx; probably also !t'y"w>li coiled, hence coiled animal, serpent, from hy"w>li a winding;!T'v.xun> brazen, from tv,xñn> brass. Also abstracts, e. g. !ArW"[i blindness, from rWE[i. Cf. § 85 u—With a double termination (oÖn or aÖn with iÖ ) ynImod>a; reddish, ynI[oD>yI a knowing (spirit); ynI[op.ci basilisk; tAYnIm†'x]r†; merciful [fem. plur.].1

g

!A appears to be used as a diminutive ending (cf. the Syriac !W ) in !Avyai little man (in the eye), apple of the eye, from vyai2; on the other hand !poypiv. adder, which was formerly regarded as a diminutive, is properly an adjectival form from @p;v' to rub ( hence, as it were, a rubbing creature ); in the same way !Wrvuy> is a denominative from rWvy" ( =rv'y" ), properly upright (righteous people), and not a diminutive ( pious little people, and the like ); finally, !Arh]f†; is not lunula, but an artficial moon (used as an ornament), and ~ynIroW>c; not little neck, but necklace (from raW"c; neck). Cf. Delitzsch on Ct 4:9.

h

5. Peculiar to denominatives is the termination y¤i, which converts a substantive into an adjective, and is added especially to numerals and names of persons and countries, in order to form ordinals, patronymics, and tribal names; e. g. ylig>r; footman, plur. ~ylig>r;, from lg<r,ñ foot; yrIz"k.a; cruel, yrIk.n" strange, from rk,nOÐ strangeness, yTix.T; lower, from tx;T;ñ below, fem. tyTix.T' and hY"Tix.T;, plur. ~yYITix.T;; tAYTix.T;’ yVivi the sixth, from vve six; ybia'Am) Moabite, from ba'Am, plur. ~ybia'm†o, fem.hY"bia]Am† and tybia'Am), plur.tAYbia]Am) ’ yrIb.[i Hebrew, plur. ~yrIb.[iand ~yYIrIb.[i, fem. hY"rIb.[i, plur.tAYrIb.[i ’ yliaer>f.y Israelite, from laer'f.yI. When the original substantive is a compound, it is resolved again into two words, e. g. ynIymiy>-!B, Benjamite, from !ymiy"n>Bi (cf. on the use of the article in such cases, § 127 d ).

i

Instead of y¤i we find in a few cases (a) the ending y¤; (as in Aram.), e. g. yl;yKi (crafty, or, according to others, churlish) if it stands for yl;ykin> and is not rather from a stem alk or hlk ’ yr'Ax white cloth, Is 19:9 in pause; perhaps also yb;GO a swarm of locusts, Am 7:1 (yb+'AG Na 3:17); hardly yt;Anyg)in> Is 38:20, Hb 3:19; but certainly in proper names as yL;zIr>B (ferreus) Barzillai;2 and (b) h¤,, arising from aÁy, in hV,ai belonging to fire (vae), i. e. a sacrifice offered by fire; hn<b.li ( prop.milky ) the storax-shrub, Arabic lubnay.

k

6. Abstract nouns formed from concretes by the addition of tW: tÎy¤yIÐ (§ 95 t), cf. our terminations -dom, -hood, -ness, e. g. tWdl.y: youth, tWkl.m; kingdom (the omission of the DagesÛ in k shows that the S–ewaÖ is weakened from a full vowel; on malik as underlying the present form %l,m,ñ cf. § 84a a); tWnm'l.a; widowhood, from !m'l.a; widower, hn"m'l.a; widow. In Aram. this fem. ending tW (or W with rejection of the t) is a common termination of the infinitive in the derived conjugations (cf., as substantival infinitives of this kind, tW[m'v.h; the announcing, Ez 24:26, and tWrb.x;t.hi the making of a league, Dn 11:23); in Hebr. tW as a termination to express abstract ideas (including some which appear to be directly derived from the verbal stem, as tWlk.si folly, tWap.rI a healing3 ) becomes more common only in the later books. It is affixed to adjectives ending in iÖ (see above, h) in tWYrIz>k.a; cruelty, and tWYmim.Aq† upright position ( Lv 26:13, used adverbially ).

l

The ending tyñ¤'i is found earlier, e. g. in tyrIaev. remainder, tyviare principium, from vare = vaor ( head ) princeps. The termination oÖth seems to occur in tAmk.x' wisdom ( in Pr 1:20, 9:1, joined to a singular; so also tAmk.x; Pr 14:1, where, probably, tAmk.x' should likewise be read ) and in tAlleAh) Ec 1:17 &c., with the parallel form tWlleAh) Ec 10:13.

Footnotes:

1[1] Cf. Barth, § 212; König, ii. I, 413. Diminutives in Semitic languages are, however, most commonly formed by inserting a y after the second radical, e. g. Aram. am'yLeW[, Syr., , Arab. a very young man, kulaib, a little dog, &c. Since Olshausen (§ 180), ry[ez> a little ( Is 28:10, 13, Jb 36:2 ) has commonly been regarded as an example of the same form, to which others have added ~ysiybiv. Is 3:18 (as though a foreign dialectical form for sÛumais, little sun), and !Anymia] 2 S 13:20, as a contemptuous diminutive form of !Anm.a;; cf. Ewald, § 167, W. Wright, Arab. Gramm.2 i. § 269, De Lagarde, Nominalbildung, pp. 85–87, König. ii. 1, p. 143 f. The existence of the form in Hebrew is disputed by Barth, § 192 d.]

2[1] On y¤; as an old fem. ending, see above, § 80 l.

3[1] [See a complete list of instances in König, Lehrgetäude, ii. 1, p. 205 f.]