§ 123. The Representation of Plural Ideas by Means of Collectives, and by the Repetition of Words.

a

Besides the plural endings treated in § 87 a–i, the language employs other means to express a plurality of living beings or things:

(a) Certain words employed exclusively in a collective sense, while the individual members of the class are denoted by special words (nomina unitatis, but not in the same sense as in § 122 t).

Thus rq'B' cattle, oxen1 (even joined with numerals, e. g. Ex 21:37 rq'b' hV'mix] five head of cattle), but rAv an ox; !aoc small cattle, i. e. sheep and goats (mh/la), cf. Jb 1:3 !aoc-ypel.a; t[;b.vi seven thousand sheep; but hf, a single head of small cattle (a sheep or a goat). Other more or less common collectives are: zyzI (prop. that which prowls or roams) wild beasts, @j; (perhaps prop. tripping) a number of little children; av,D,ñ fresh green herb, i. e. young plants, qr,y<ò green, i. e. vegetation in general; @A[ birds, fowl; bk,r,ñ chariots or cavalcade, hM'rI worms, fm,r,ñ creeping things (of small creatures), #r,v,ñ swarming things.

b

(b) The collective use of substantives which at the same time serve as nomina unitatis; thus, ~d'a' (never in plur.) means both man (homo) and men (homines); vyai a man (vir) and men (viri); hV'ai woman and women (Ju 21:16, 1 S 21:6); hB,r>a; a locust, but usually a swarm of locusts; vp,n<ò soul and souls (persons); lQem; staff and staves (Gn 30:37); jyI[;ñ a bird of prey and birds of prey; hl,[' a leaf and foliage; bf,[eñ a plant and plants, herbs; #[e a tree and trees (as it were foliage); yrIP. fruit and fruits; x;yfi a shrub and shrubs; in isolated instances also nouns like db,[,ñ man-servant, hx'p.vi maid-servant, rAmx] ass, rAv ox (cf. Gn 32:6).—On the singular (especially of gentilic names) with the article (which may, however, be omitted in poetry, cf. e. g. y Ps 12:2 dysix', Pr 11:14 #[eAy) to include all individuals of the same species, cf. § 126 l. On the special meaning of the plurals formed from certain collectives, see § 124 l.

(c) The feminine ending; see § 122 s.

c

(d) The repetition of single words, and even of whole groups of words, especially to express entirety, or in a distributive sense. The following cases are more particularly to be noticed:

1. The repetition of one or more words to express the idea of every, all, as ~Ay ~Ay Gn 39:10, &c., day by day, every day; hn"v' hn"v' year by year, Dt 14:22; vyai vyai every man, Ex 36:4; with B. before each, as rq,BoñB; rq,BoñB; Ex 16:21 every morning (and similarly before a group of words, Lv 24:8), for which the distributive l. is also used, rq,Boñl; rq,Boñl; 1 Ch 9:27, and with one plural ~yrIq'B.l; y Ps 73:14, ~yrIq'b.li Jb 7:18 parallel with ~y[ig"r>li every moment. Somewhat different are the instances with B. before the second word only, e. g. ~AyB. ~Ay day by day, 1 Ch 12:22(23); hn"v'b. hn"v' year by year, Dt 15:20, 1 S 1:7 (but in verse 3 hm'ymiñy" ~ymiY"mi), ~[;p;ñB. ~[;p;ñK. Nu 24:1, Ju 16:20, 20:30 f., 1 S 3:10 as at other times. Also with the two words united by means of waÒw copulative, vyaiw> vyai y Ps 87:5, or vyaiw" vyai Est 1:8; rAdw" rAD all generations, Dt 32:7; ~AYw" ~Ay Est 3:4; cf. Est 8:9, Ezr 10:14, 1 Ch 26:13 and often (cf. Cheyne, Bampton lectures, 1889, p. 479, according to whom the use of the w copulative with the second word is especially common in Ch and Est, and therefore belongs to the later language; Driver, Introd.6, p. 538, No. 35); sometimes (but with the exception of y Ps 45:18 only in very late passages) with a pleonastic -lK' preceding, y Ps 145:13, Est 2:11, 9:28, 2 Ch 11:12, &c.

d

2. Repetition of words in an expressly distributive sense2 (which may to some extent be noticed in the examples under c) equivalent to one each, &c., e. g. Nu 14:34 forty days hn"V'l; ~Ay hn"V'l; ~Ay counting for every day a year; cf. Ez 24:6, Ex 28:34 (three words repeated); also with the addition of db;l. apart, ADb;l. rd,[e rd,[e every drove by itself, Gn 32:17; cf. Zc 12:12. Most frequently with the addition of a numeral (for the simple repetition of numerals for the same purpose, cf. § 134 q), and with the words not only in groups of two (Lv 24:8, Nu 13:2, 31:4) or three (Nu 7:11, 17:21), but even of six (Ex 26:3) or seven (Ex 25:33, 26:19, 21, 25); in Ex 25:35 five words even three times repeated.3

e

3. Repetition to express an exceptional or at least superfine quality; e. g. 2 K 25:15 which were of gold, gold, of silver, silver, i. e. made of pure gold and pure silver; Dt 2:27 %r,D,ñB; %r,D,ñB; only along by the high way; cf. Nu 3:8, 8:16 they are given, given to him, i. e. given exclusively for his service, for his very own. Also with a certain hyperbole in such examples as 2 K 3:16 ~ybiGE ~ybiGE nothing but trenches; Gn 14:10 rm'xe tAa/B†, troa/B†, all asphalt-pits.—Repetition serves to intensify the expression to the highest degree in Ju 5:22 by reason of the violent pransings of his strong ones, Ex 8:10 (countless heaps), and Jo 4:14 (countless multitudes); cf. also j[;m. j[;m. Ex 23:30 by little and little, very gradually; cf. § 133 k.

f

4. Repetition with the copula to express of mare than one kind; thus Dt 25:13 (Pr 20:10) !b,a,ñw" !b,a,ñ a weight and a weight, i. e. two kinds of weight (hence the addition great and small); y Ps 12:3 blew" bleB. with two kinds of heart, i. e. with a double-dealing heart; cf. the opposite blew" ble aolB. 1 Ch 12:33(34).

Footnotes:

1[1] The plural form ~yrIq'B. from rq'B' is found only in very late Hebrew, Neh 10:37 (where according to the Mantua edition, Ginsburg, &c., even WnynEòaoc our sheep, is also to be read; Baer, however, has WnnEòaoc), and 2 Ch 4:3. In Am 6:12 read, with Hitzig, ~y" rq'B'B;.

2[1] Cf. in the New Testament St. Mark 6:39 f. snmpo,sia snmpo,sia( prasiai. prasiai, (Weizsäcker, tischweise, beetweise).

3[2] These repetitions of larger groups of words belong entirely to the Priestly Code in the Pentateuch, and are unquestionably indications of a late period of the language. Of quite a different kind are such examples as Ez 16:6, where the repetition of four words serves to give greater solemnity to the promise, unless here, as certainly in 1:20, it is a mere dittography; the LXX omit the repetition in both passages.