An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

14.
ינוֹלי ִ גּ ִ Gilonite
< הלֹגִּ Giloh
d Denominative abstract nouns are formed with the suffix -ût and, less often,-ît.
֫
ְ
֫
ִ ֵ
ָ
15. תוּד ְלַי childhood < ד ֶל ֶי
child
16. תוּכל ַמ royalty, kingdom < ךְ ֶל ֶמ
king
17. תירא ְשׁ remnant
< רא ְשׁ residue
e The suffix -ām is used to form adverbials (## 18–20; 39.3.1h). 29
ִ
ֵ
ָ ֵ
ֵ
18. ם ָמוֹי by day < םוֹי day
19. ם ָנּח gratuitously < ן
םקי < קי
20.
ר in vain
5.8 Excursus: Interchange of Consonants
ח grace
ר empty
a The phonological structure of Biblical Hebrew is outside our purview, but one
facet of it deserves mention in connection with the study of patterns. Consonants
occasionally interchange in Hebrew word formation, and so closely related forms
may actually take on slightly different shapes. There are three groups of
interchanges important for Biblical Hebrew: the gutturals, the liquids (l and r) and
nasals (m and n), and other consonants.
b The interchange of initial ˒aleph and yod is attested in ˒š for standard yš (2 Sam
14:19) and ˒śr˒l for standard yśr˒l (1 Chr 25:2, cf. v 14). Note also the alternate
form of the divine name הֶיהְ ֶ
א (Hos 1:9; cf. Exod 3:12, 14). 30 Other interchanges
of gutturals, though common in later forms of the language, are rare in Biblical
Hebrew. 31
c The liquid-nasal commutations are best known through the two forms of the
name Nebuchadnezzar (e.g., Jer 29:1) and Nebuchadrezzar (e.g., Jer 21:2). The
three sounds l, n, and r occasionally show up in closely related forms, for
29 The evidence of the El-Amarna letters suggests that this suffix is etymologically
composed of an accusative ending -a- followed by an enclitic m (9.8).
30 See C. D. Isbell, “Initial ˒alef-yod Interchange and Selected Biblical Passages,”
Journal of Near Eastern Studies 37 (1978) 227–36; D. N. Freedman and M,
O’Connor, “YHWH,” Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, ed. G. J.
Botterweck and H. Ringgren (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), 5. 500–21; cf. E. L.
Greenstein, “Another Attestation of Initial h > ˒ in West Semitic,” Journal of the
Ancient Near Eastern Society 5 (1973) 157–64.
31 See, e.g., E. Qimron, The Hebrew Of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Atlanta: Scholars Press,
1986) 24–26; M. H. Segal, A Grammar of Mishnaic Hebrew (Oxford: Clarendon,
1927) 26–28.