A Grammar of Mishnaic Hebrew

FORMATION OF NOUNS in
The other examples are all fem.:
nja^ny mixture, confusion, Kil. v. i; iTng (from nnp) hollow
pumpkin. Pa. v. 3. With the termination n^—: Tl^D^nK redness,
Hul. 87 b; n'^^^i? whiteness, Neg. iv. 4; nnnnK? blackness,
ugliness, Taa. 23b; n-?«fC) leading ram, BQ 52 b; n^Mpi
rottenness, Yo. 38 b; n^?^3De? oily substance, Be. 28 a.
Diminutives: n^?^^K?aa a hillock, heap, §ab. 23b; n^©^3 little
hole, t. Miq. iii. 4; n^?^l)a little garden, BB 68 a, b; n^?^:*! a light
fisher-boat (contracted to H W ) , BB 78 b; ri^?^a")! little pipe.
Lev. R. 6; Num. R. 10; n n ^ i a j litde dust, BB 93 b; n>b^5>??
pool. Oh. xvi. 5; Ti'b^bpi hillock, ib. 7.
Cf. BH nvjj?, D^WD«?, nnnj|K?, &c., Stade, § 231.
A BH parallel to the diminutive significance of reduplicated
form is to be found in nnrT)nB? Cant. i. 6, which can only mean
blackish, dark. Perhaps also Pli?l), D^tplK» Lev. xiii. 42, 43;
^l^DapN rabble. Num. xi. 4, and nn^Q low brood. Job xxx. 12
(cf. nj^na ^rrna young priests, Yo. i. 7; Tam. i. i), are to be
regarded as diminutives, the last two nouns with a contemptuous
significance.
246. (ii) Reduplication of Second and Third radicals.
D'niplK red; p^pl^ yellow, Neg. iii. 8; nnin spotted, white,
Rek. vi. 3; n^jb^D round, Sab. 31a; ^T^lf camp stool, Kel.
xxiii. 2 ; P^^lf gier eagle, Hul. 63 a.
With 0 in the second syllable, cf. BH VrknB^ ^TW, &c.
(Ges.-K., § 84 Bn); AbJ^D, purslane, Sebi. ix. i ; nii^n^n a species
of peas, t. Pea i. 7; njjnipi; yellowish, Meg. 13 a;* nnionp^
feverish flushes, Nid. ix. 8.
Diminutives: b'^^b^^ dwarf onion, Kil. i. 3; ontDhQ units,
details, t MS ii. 11. So the caritative form : pS^B) very beautiful,
» Cf. Ibn Ezra, ad loc, and on Cant., 1. c. In N*g. xi. 4; Sifra, xiii. 49,
however, these terms are explained as intensives. Cf. also Brockelmann,
ib., i, §173.