An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

‘He took it from the table’= [in French] il l’a pris sur la table…Are we to assume that sur in
French is ambiguous, meaning both ‘on’ and ‘from’? Such a claim is hardly viable, and no
native speaker would accept the general interchangeability of sur with de [as in de Paris
‘from Paris’] or depuis [as in depuis le matin ‘from morning on, since morning’]. The
explanation lies in the perspective of the speaker: English expresses the separation caused by
the act through the use of the preposition ‘from’, while French looks at the position of the
object before the action took place. 12
Similarly in Akkadian the preposition ina usually has the sense ‘in,’ but in the
clause ina našpakim ilteqe ‘he took (it) from the granary,’ it has an ablative sense. 13
[Page 192] d Most prepositions have a spatial sense, which it is convenient to take as
basic. From this notion other senses, referring to temporal and logical relations, can be
seen as having developed. The role of the spatial sense should be qualified: usage, not
etymology, decides meaning. The prepositions have distinctive meanings; although
their semantic fields overlap, no two exhibit complete interchangeability. 14
Nonetheless, because of the overlapping meanings, it is possible that sometimes the
choice among essentially similar verb-preposition combinations was chiefly stylistic.
e Ideally, the meanings of prepositions should be classified according to their idiomatic
combinations with specific verbs in order to safeguard against unwarranted extensions
of a preposition’s meaning. 15 One must not assume that a Hebrew speaker would have
categorized its meanings according to English equivalents. However, to a large degree
the meaning of the preposition is consistent and capturable, even with the variations
due to the meanings of the verbs used with it. A precise and exhaustive study of
Hebrew verb-prepositions pairings belongs in a dictionary or advanced word book, as
noted earlier; for the purposes of this grammar we give a basic overview of most of
the simple prepositions and their meanings, without inventorying the verbs associated
with each. The student should look on the glosses used in the following examples as
guides and remain open to other possible interpretations of the verb-preposition
combinations.
f Of the fifteen simple prepositions discussed here, all but two (ן ַע֫ ַי, ְכּ ) have a spatial
sense. The spatial and temporal senses are usually noted first, and the other relevant
relations thereafter. 16
12
Pardee, UF 8: 282. cf. 7: 335. The same point is made with regard to a cognate
language by P. Swiggers, “Phoenician b ‘from’?” Aula Orientalis 5 (1987) 152–54.
13
See von Soden, Grundriss der akkadischen Grammatik, §114c / p. 164, cf. §114g /
p. 166.
14
On overlap see Pardee, UF 7: 336; 8: 285–86.
15
A. F. Rainey notes that the superficial resemblance between lmlk on standard
measures and weights and on private stamp-seals “can be most deceptive when their
respective semantic contexts are ignored”; “Private Seal-Impressions: A Note on
Semantics,” Israel Exploration Journal 16 (1966) 187–90, at 187.
16