An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

generic statement a statement referring to a class of entities or events; see also gnomic
genetive see case (function)
genre a category of compositions with common qualities, e.g., prayer, parable, letter
gnomic having the character of a rule, proverb, or byword; see also generic statement
habitual characterisitc of an extended period of time extending up to or into the present,
as of a verb form used to describe regular repetition of an action; a verb form used to
describe such an action in the past is called customary
hapax legomenon (Greek ‘once read’; pl. hapax legomena or, less formally, hapaxes)a
word, form, or combination of words found only once in a given body of literature
head the main element in a phrase
hemistich see line
hendiadys (Greek ‘one through two’)a single expression of two apparently separate parts,
e.g., ‘kith and kin’
homonyms words of the same shape (pronunciation and spelling) but different meanings;
homophones are words of the same pronunciation but different meanings; in
languages with complex spelling traditions, e.g, English, homophone is used for
words with different spellings and homonym for words with identical spelling
homophones see homonyms
imperfective an aspect (Aspekt) in which a situation is understood as ongoing, whatever
its temporal relation to the time of speaking; see also non-perfective and perfective
impersonal an active construction with no specified agent
inceptive referring to the beginning of a situation; also incohative
inchoative see inceptive
indicative the mood of a simple statement or assertion; also declarative
indirect action an action in which the subject is the originating or motivating force but
not the agent, i.e., not the immediate mover or actor; indirect action may be mediated
by an animate or inanimate intermediary (e.g., by a servant or a tool)
infix see affix
inflection a systematic morphological marking signaling a grammatical relationship; also
accidence
ingressive referring to entering into a state; compare inceptive
intranstive verb a verb that (usually) does not govern an object; stative verbs are
generally intranstitive; see also transitive verb
irreal other than real or actual, e.g., hypothetical, dubious; see also mood
line the basic unit of Hebrew verse; also colon, hemistich, verset
maqqeph (Hebrew ‘binder’)the Masoretic equivalent of a dash, often also serving as a
sign that one of the two or three elements joined has no independent stress
markedness analysis an analysis based on the presence or absence of a particular
linguistic feature
metathesis a change in the sequence of sounds or syllables, reflecting a slip of the
tongue, phonological change, or copyist error
mater lectionis (latin ‘mother of reading’; pl. matres lectionis) a letter used in a
consonantal script to indicate a vowel
middle see voice[Page 692]
mimation the ending m added after the case endings of many nouns in older dialects of
Akkadian (Old Akkadian, Old Babylonian, Old Assyrian)
mišqal (Hebrew ‘weight’) noun pattern, e.g., CéCeC is the mišqal of kéleb and mélek
modernizing a process by which older or archaic characteristics are replaced by
corresponding newer ones