An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

The labors of adaptation culminated in the works of the Qimḥi family: Joseph, the
father (ca. 1105–1170), and his sons Moses and David (1160–1235). 20 In the
introduction to the section of his Sepher Mikhlol (Compendium) dealing with
Hebrew grammar, David likened himself to a “gleaner after the reaper,” whose
task it has been to compile and present succinctly and simply the voluminous
findings of his predecessors. He selected his material so judiciously and presented
it so effectively that his work eclipsed and eventually displaced the more original
and profound work of Ibn Janaḥ and served as an authoritative standard until the
nineteenth century. Posterity held his works in such high regard that a mishnaic
dictum was adapted to them: הרות ןיא יחמק ןיא םא,
‘If there were no Qimḥi,
there would be no Torah.’ We are indebted to Joseph and David Qimḥi for the
now-standard formulation of the patterning of long and short vowels in closed and
open syllables and of the relationship of these to silent and vocal shewas; the
system of verbal stems (binyanim) as it is understood today was first elaborated by
them. 21
[Page 37] c David Tene appraised this period of dissemination as follows:
Although the works of adaptation and translation obviously made but a slight original
contribution to linguistic thought, it would be difficult to exaggerate the importance
of this literary activity. It was the translators and adaptors who saved Hebrew
linguistics from oblivion and made it a permanent branch in the history of Jewish
literature. They also translated into Hebrew the Arabic grammatical terms…, and they
fixed a mode of exposition for grammatical and lexicographical issues…that has
existed until today in the study and teaching of the Hebrew language and in Hebrew
biblical exegesis. 22
2.2.3 Waning Period (1250–1550)
a In the late Middle Ages, as the intellectual and demographic center of Jewry
shifted away from the Near East, so too the study of Hebrew grammar took on a
Poet’s Eyes’: Some Difficult Biblical Words Interpreted by Moses ibn Ezra,” Hebrew
Studies 23 (1982) 111–14.
20
Tene, “Literature,” 1372–73; David Qimḥi is also known as RaDaQ (Rabbi David
Qimḥi).
21
See Chomsky, Mikhlol, xx-xxi. The ten-vowel, quantitative/qualitative system of
Joseph Qimḥi is a radical reconceptualization of the seven-vowel qualitative Tiberian
or Masoretic system. Its accuracy and usefulness have been questioned; also open to
question is whether the Qimḥis meant vowel length as (what we now call) phonemic.
(Vowel quantity refers to shortness/length; quality refers to the character of the
sound.)
22
Tene, “Literature,” 1359.