An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

8 Nominative Function and Verbless Clauses
9 Genitive Function
10 Accusative Function and Related Matters
11 Prepositions
12 Apposition
13 Definiteness and Indefiniteness
[Page 83] 5 Noun Patterns
5.1 Root, Affix, Pattern
5.2 Pattern Diversity
5.3 Simple Patterns
5.4 Patterns with Medial Lengthening
5.5 Patterns with Reduplication
5.6 Patterns with Prefixing
5.7 Patterns with Suffixing
5.8 Excursus: Interchange of Consonants
5.1 Root, Affix, Pattern
a Most words in Hebrew include a root, a sequence of consonants associated with a
meaning or group of meanings. Most roots are triconsonantal (or triradical);
middle-weak roots (and sometimes other weak roots) are considered
biconsonantal. 1 The root is an abstraction, based on the forms and words that
actually occur, and its meaning is also an abstraction, based on the semantic field
of the words as they are used. The system of roots is part of the speaker’s
knowledge of the language, but the resulting abstractions should not be pressed
too hard, especially on semantic grounds. Words that actually occur always have
1 At various levels of abstraction, some classes of verbs can be considered
biconsonantal. In addition to middle-weak roots, final-weak and geminate roots are
often so treated. Some words (sometimes called “primitive” nouns) may be said to
have monoconsonantal roots, e.g., peh ‘mouth’ (compare Ugaritic p and Akkadian
pû); “primitive” biconsonantals include bēn ‘son’ and s̆ēm ‘name.’ Longer,
quadriconsonantal and quinqiconsonantal, roots are rare in Biblical Hebrew (though
not in later forms of the language). In a triradical root, only the second and third
consonants can have the same point of articulation, and if they do, they must be
identical; see J. H. Greenberg, “The Patterning of Root Morphemes in Semitic,” Word
6 (1950) 162–81. There are a few exceptions, notably the numbers ‘three’ (Hebrew
s̆ālôs̆) and ‘six’ (Hebrew s̆ēs̆, sĭs̆s̆îm; Arabic sādisa).