137 The Interrogative Pronoun

§ 137. The Interrogative Pronoun.

a

The interrogative pronoun ymi who may refer either to a masculine or feminine person (Ct 3:6), or even to a plural, e. g. ~T,a; ymi who are ye ? Jos 9:8; hL,aeñ-ymi Gn 33:5, Nu 22:9 (more minutely, ymiw" ymi Ex 10:8, i. e. who exactly, who in particular ?). It is used of the neuter only when the idea of, a person is implied, e. g. ~k,v.-ym†i who are the Shechemites? Ju 9:28, 13:17, Gn 33:8, Mi 1:5; even more boldly, with the repetition of a ymi used personally, in 1 S 18:18, 2 S 7:18.—Another interrogative is hw<-yae which, what ?; of persons only in Est 7:5.

b

Moreover, ymi may also be used in the sense of a genitive, e. g. T.a; ymi-tB; whose daughter art thou? Gn 24:23, 1 S 17:55, 56, 58; ymi rb;D> whose word ? Jer 44:28, 1 S 12:3; in the accusative, ymi-ta, quemnam ? 1 S 28:11, Is 6:8; with prepositions, e. g. ymiB. 1 K 20:14 (in an abrupt question by whom ?); ymil. Gn 32:18; ymi yrex]a†; 1 S 24:15.—Similarly hm'Ã -hm;Ã hm, what ? is used for the nominative, or accusative, or genitive (Jer 8:9), or with prepositions, e. g. hm'-l[; whereupon ? Is 1:5, Jb 38:6; why ? Nu 22:32, &c.; hm'-d[; quousque ? y Ps 74:9.¹

c
Rem. Both ymi and hm' are used also in indirect questions (on the merely relative distinction between direct and indirect questions in Hebrew, see the Interrogative Sentences), e. g. Gn 39:8 (but read hm'Wañm. with Samar. and LXX), 43:22, Ex 32:1.—On the meaning of ymi and hm' as interrogatives is based also their use as indefinite pronouns (equivalent to quisquis, quodcunque or quicquam), e. g. Ex 32:26, Ju 7:8, 1 S 20:4, Is 50:10 (read [m;v.yI in the apodosis), 54:15, Pr 9:4, 16, 2 Ch 36:23; even ymi-Wrm.vi have a care, whosoever ye be, 2 S 18:12 (unless yli is to be read, with the LXX, for ymi); se also hm' (whatever it be) Jb 13:13, 1 S 19:3, 2 S 18:22, 23; cf. Nu 23:3 ynIaeñr>Y:-hm; rb;d>W and whatsoever he showeth me. Cf. also rv,a] ymi whosoever Ex 32:33, 2 S 20:11, and rv,a] vyaih'-ym†i any man who Dt 20:5 ff. , Ju 10:18. A still further weakening of the indefinite use of hm' is the combination ·V,-m; that which, Ec 1:9, 3:15 (just like the Syriac d> am'); cf. Est 8:1, and hm' … lB; Pr 9:13, hm' … aol Neh 2:12, nothing whatever.—On hm'Wañj. quicquam, anything at all (usually with a negative), and as an adverb in any way, 1 S 21:3, see the Lexicon.

Footnotes:

¹[1] A quite different use of hm' was pointed out (privately) by P. Haupt in Ct 5:8 will ye not tell him ? i. e. I charge you that ye tell him, and 7:1 = look now at the Shulamite, corresponding to the late Arabic maÖ taraÖ, just see! maÖ taquÖlu,, say now! It has long been recognized that hm' is used as a negative in Ct 8:4.