An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

complex prepositions (11.3), some syntactic features of prepositions are presented
(11.4).
11.2 Semantics of Simple Prepositions
a Prepositions are terms of relation, and their great interest is the remarkable
economy with which they signify many different relations. The number of types
of relation is[Page 191] quite large, though relations of place and time are of
greatest importance, and the schemes of locational and temporal relations are the
best developed. Other important relation types frequently signaled by prepositions
include origin, instrument, agent, interest, cause, and goal.
b Even an examination of the interrelations of only the spatial uses of Hebrew
prepositions reveals the complexity of the system, the gaps and overlaps in the
lexicon, and the various ways the relational terms are mapped onto the world. The
spatial senses of the prepositions can refer either to position or movement. If we
mark with arrows prepositions that chiefly describe movement and leave the
others unmarked, we can map many of the spatial prepositions onto a simple
diagram. 10
c The spatial sense or reference of a given preposition is not an absolute value,
however; it is always governed by the verb (or predicate) of the clause and, more
broadly, by the perspective from which an action is viewed. 11 Dennis G. Pardee
illustrates the point:
10 Cf. Pardee, UF 8: 319, cf. 275–79.
11 On this point generally, originally made in the context of contemporary study by
(among others) Edmund Sutcliffe and L. F. Hartman (Pardee, UF 7: 334–35), see
Pardee, UF 8: 280–85.