Abstract
B
This well-controlled study of ‘et, a revision of B.'s HUC dissertation, repays careful study. After a short introductory chapter, ch. 2 summarizes the standard approach to case found in Biblical Hebrew reference grammars and reviews wider literature on ‘et: ‘Biblical Hebrew lacks inflectional case’, and ‘only a subset of objects are overtly marked’ (p. 58). Chapter 3 discusses factors that influence differential object marking (DOM), such as ranking, definiteness, or animacy: DOM is more nuanced than simple syntax. Chapters 4 and 5 advance the exploration of such factors. The main parameter in asymmetric DOM is individuation (ch. 4). The human-referring mî is always marked, but the non-human-referring mâ never; on the other hand, Samuel–Kings and Chronicles make different marking decisions in some synoptic passages. The main parameter in symmetric DOM is affectedness (ch. 5), nicely illustrated in 2 Samuel 23: wyk bplštym (v. 10) and wyk ‘et-plštym (v. 12)—the first strike ‘affected’ Philistines incompletely because the smiting arm tired, the second ‘affected’ them disastrously. In his concluding ch. 6, B. notes that ‘the behaviour of DOM systems is relatively consistent cross-linguistically’ (p. 203)—objects higher in individuation are more likely to be object-marked. The diachronic conclusion is that it was from proper nouns and pronouns that object marking spread ‘to include other classes of animate and definite nouns’ (p. 204). Much of the main text is not for the linguistically faint-hearted; however, the examples drawn from Standard Biblical Hebrew narrative prose are (almost independently) illuminating.
A.G. A
B
The essays in this volume arose from a 2012 conference in Strasbourg, and are divided into four categories (the language of the essay is indicated in each case). Part 1, ‘Hebrew’, has words and their worlds (English; M.S. Smith), ‘what you inherited from your father’: a marginal observation on Hebrew lexicography (German; I. Kottsieper), the recovery of the ancient Hebrew language: the astonishing wealth of its unrecognized vocabulary (English; D.J.A. Clines), the usefulness of Semitic etymology in a Biblical Hebrew lexicon (English; L. Kogan), Hebrew hapax legomena in the books of Samuel (German; W. Dietrich), the OT and the question of the ‘soul’ (nefeś) (German; B. Janowski), and metaphorical lexicalizing in ancient Hebrew (French; E. Shuali). Part 2, ‘Hebrew and Greek’, is a single essay on the interplay between Hebrew and Greek in biblical lexicology (English; J. Joosten). Part 3, ‘Greek’, covers the lexicography of the LXX between Shem and Japhet (French; G. Dorival), remarks on the vocabulary of work in the Bible tested on the LXX translation (French; C. Dogniez), the semantic role of etymology in the meaning of Greek biblical words: the case of ekklësia (English; K. Papademetriou), and aspects of polysemy in Biblical Greek: micro-structure of krisis (English; R. Vergari). Part 4, ‘Projects’, includes the historical dictionary of the Hebrew language (English; A. Tal), semantics and lexicography: a methodological conundrum (English; H.G.M. Williamson), lexicon of Samaritan Hebrew according to the Samaritan Pentateuch tradition (English; S. Schorch), and the Historical and Theological Lexicon of the Septuagint (HTLS) (English; Bons). There are indexes and a brief introduction that considers the value of a discussion of lexicography; unfortunately, it does not discuss the contents of the essays in the volume or any themes or conclusions that arose from the conference discussion.
L.L. G
C
The authors ‘avoid the model that dominates in other textbooks—the grammar-translation model’ (p. 9)—and use as much Hebrew as possible; vocabulary lists consist of the Hebrew word alongside a picture, and the ‘readings’ have coloured cartoon strips. The workbook format has minimal grammar (weak verbs are assigned to an appendix) with the intention that teachers can add more if appropriate (p. 10). In my opinion, however, the grammar is too minimal: students are told shewas are only pronounced at the beginning of words or if they are the second of two consecutive shewas (p. 29); vocalization changes are sometimes not addressed; and verb stems, which are given in Hebrew with examples and English translations, have no description, such as ‘passive’. The lack of explanation may also be confusing. For instance, letters are used as section numbers, though students (who do not know the alphabet when they first encounter this) are not told that letters can be used in this way. Similarly, there is an instruction to ignore dageshes in which ‘dagesh’ is written in Hebrew, even though the word has only appeared in passing a couple of pages previously and before the alphabet has been given. Nevertheless, there is a greater focus on syntax and semantics than in most traditional grammars, appendixes covering phonology and morphology and glossaries ‘both ways’. Particularly good is the detailed help on how to use a lexicon, with scanned sections from BDB and others. In addition, the book is readable and unlikely to overwhelm students, a recommendable attribute.
J. W
D
This is a revised PhD thesis completed at Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati (supervisor: S.A. Kaufman). Volitives are those words that express wishes, requests, commands, prohibitions, and tend to take the cohortative, imperative, or jussive form in Hebrew. She shows, however, that modality is indicated by a much wider set of lexical and syntactic elements (and also other linguistic elements) than these well-known morphological forms (e.g. the particle nä', ‘surely’). Examples are given from other languages to illustrate specific points, but the Canaanite presupposed by writers of the Amarna letters serves as a systematic parallel for comparative purposes (covering the years of approximately 1500 to 500
L.L. G
This volume contains 14 papers previously published by the author, which he presents as broadly complementary. Between them, they cover such topics as general classification of the Semitic languages, of Ugaritic and Old South Arabian in particular, of the linguistic continuum across the Syro-Palestinian region in the late second millennium, phonetics, enclitics, postpositions, pronouns, numerals, monoconsonantal forms, and general lexicography. The final chapter is an appraisal of ‘a forgotten Spanish contribution’, the work of Ángel Amor Ruibal on comparative Semitic linguistics. There is a useful 53-page bibliography. The whole is ably translated by W.G.E. Watson. The author has made a massive contribution to our understanding of the Northwest Semitic languages, and this is an excellent cross-section of his work.
N. W
While neither the Spanish original (Diccionario de la lengua ugarítica [AuOrS, 7–8; Barcelona: AUSA, 1996–2000]) nor the first English edition (2 vols.; Brill, 2003) were noted in B.L., the second English edition was reviewed in B.L. 2005, p. 205. This third edition—much modified as regards details, as philological research continues apace and requires both new entries and correction of old ones—constitutes the present status quaestionis of Ugaritic philology. Its being slightly shorter than the second edition is explained by the use of a slightly smaller font and the exclusion of bibliographical references predating 1970. As before, newcomers to Ugaritic may be distressed to see so many uncertainties conceded, and so many alternatives offered for individual lemmata. Given the complexities involved, readers should rather marvel that so much has already been achieved in this relatively recent addition to the range of ancient Near Eastern languages. The authors kindly recognize the midwife-role of Wilfred G.E. Watson in the production of the book, noting that ‘to a considerable extent, this Dictionary is also his’ (vol. 1, p. viii).
N. W
H
For a review of this volume, see Section 5 (III) above.
M
This second edition doubles the size of the first, with half concerned with lexemes and half with script. Part 1 (‘Helps’, pp. 15–28) lists numerals and indeclinable words in a more convenient way than in dictionaries and in a more comprehensive way than in grammars. Part 2 (‘Paradigms’, pp. 29–80) covers nouns and verbs, sometimes using terminology not explained elsewhere. Part 3 (‘Glossary of Proper Nouns’, pp. 81–156) defines every word listed (not necessarily exclusively) as a name for a deity or an associated precinct, a toponym, a celestial body, an anthroponym or a calendrical term. Script tables occupy the second half of the book. These often repeat strings of information in different searchable order, for which electronic retrieval would often have been more convenient. Part 4 (pp. 157–184) is for logograms, tabulated in conventional numerical order, with Sumerian and Akkadian transcriptions and English translations. They are then relisted, both in Akkadian and in English; there all verbs appear together as infinitives beginning with ‘to’. The central element of Part 5 (pp. 185–314) is a complete table of signs in numerical order (including the logograms of Part 4) with conventional transliterations and functions. This makes the preceding simple list of signs almost redundant. The signs which have determinative functions (already marked as such in the main table) are repeated separately. The last list in the book has all sign values arranged alphabetically, with an appropriate subscript number when a sign for that value is secondary. What a delight to have this helpful information codified in full! Oh that it were available digitally!
M.E.J. R
M
For a review of this volume, see Section 8 above.
N
The title of this impressive monograph seems designed to provoke controversy. Study of the history and structure of the classical language and their relationship to putatively identifiable chronologies of texts in the Hebrew Bible rarely leads to consensus. Thus, to posit ‘archaic’ poetry and to propose a ‘historical’ investigation of tense seems at first sight to offer significant hostages to fortune. That these hostages are safely redeemed through a close and impressively open-minded investigation of the issues involved is not the least of the merits of N.'s work. Building on a review of theoretical principles for the study of tenses, N. defines ‘archaic’ poetry as a specific corpus of works embedded in prose narratives, making no assumptions about their linguistic status. The main emphasis of the monograph is a detailed analysis of the various verbal forms present in the eight poems (Deut. 32.1–43; Exod. 15.1–18; Judg. 5.2–30; 2 Sam. 22.2–51; Gen. 49.2–27; the oracles of Balaam in Num. 23 and 24; Deut. 33.2–29; and 1 Sam. 2.3–10), leading to evaluations of the relative degree of archaic language in each, made in the context of other relevant Semitic languages. N.'s conclusions are nuanced, by no means driven by prior assumptions about the texts in question; future studies of the history and character of classical Hebrew will have to take her work very seriously indeed.
A.G. H
O
O
This two-volume work teaches Biblical Hebrew based on the SLA (Second Language Acquisition) model, though it also incorporates the traditional elements of learning vocabulary, grammar, verb paradigms, etc. (vol. 1, p. xii). O. makes the point that the instructor does not need to have SLA training him/herself and, in fact, can follow the book, page by page. The instructor edition has the same content and layout as the student edition, but has additional italicized comments where the student edition has white space, suggesting what else might be said, or how best to approach the subject, and so on. It is actually one large work spanning two volumes, each with a reference section at the back followed by indexes (the indexes being identical in both volumes). One reason for the length is the interactive workbook format, though a slight disadvantage is that the book can only be used once if the student enters the answers in the book, for example, writing letters on appropriate parts of a picture. These bold, simple line-drawings are part of the ethos of learning with the whole body. Other activities involve role-play and conversation, for the idea is that one learns to ‘speak’ Biblical Hebrew. Along with the abundance of biblical quotations, there are insets that deal with different aspects of ancient Hebrew culture, with appropriate black-and-white photos and plenty of footnotes referencing other works. In addition, there are online videos that accompany the lessons. Modern terms are favoured over more classical ones, though the latter are given, so dageshes are spoken about in terms of ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ and verbs defined as either ‘qtl’ or ‘yiqtol’. Vocal shewas are given their own syllables to aid vocalization (vol. 1, p. 51). One unusual, but beneficial, feature of this grammar book is that the indexes include an English-Hebrew glossary (which includes phrases as well as words); it is also a nice touch to end the appendixes with a map in Hebrew. The underlying theme throughout this interesting, imaginative and sometimes humorous work is ‘inspired by’ the Jonah story and it is clear that the author has had fun at times. ‘“Listen, Big Fish. You will not (must not) eat the prophet. He has many bones and his meat is not good”… “I'm hungry. I want to eat the prophet”’ (vol. 1, p. 333). It is difficult to make language learning interesting for adults without being patronizing and most adults will probably accept that to some degree, but at times I felt that it was a little too patronizing. For example, ‘students will enjoy being enlisted to produce sound-effects—the heavy footsteps of the approaching giant’ with ‘puppet or picture to represent Goliath’ (vol. 1, p. 75). My main reservation, however, is that the book is too slow-paced for the academic classroom; the alphabet is taught over seventy pages (and the BeGaDKeFaT letters are not all given at once), though these pages also cover other topics, such as dageshes, open and closed syllables and behaviour of guttural letters. While the instructor's volume suggests that one can move more quickly through the pages, it would be hard to incorporate all of the teaching material if one missed out the time-consuming exercises. The style of the book may not easily lend itself to being used as a reference guide (and the reference guide in the back is not arranged alphabetically), but the repetition and the introduction to subjects over time surely enhances memory retention. Therefore, I would recommend that this course could be used to maximum advantage in an informal setting, such as a church group wishing to learn Hebrew, where time is not an issue.
J. W
P
This revised McMaster University PhD thesis (supervisor: E.M. Schuller) begins by noting that standard treatments of Biblical Hebrew usually see the verbal system in terms of ‘aspect’, while grammars of Mishnaic Hebrew speak of ‘tense’. The question is where Qumran Hebrew fits. To answer the question, P. analyses synchronically a corpus of texts, consisting of serakhim (1QS, 1QSa, 1QSb, CD, 1QM), pesharim, Hodayot (1QHa), 4QMMT, and the Temple Scroll (11QT). The results of his analysis indicate that ‘Qumran Hebrew does not encode aspect’; rather, ‘the Qumran Hebrew verb forms align themselves much more closely with tense’ (p. 196). This is a general statement and requires some nuancing, but his analysis shows that about 93 per cent of verbal forms indicate absolute tense. That is, past events and present states are generally indicated by use of qatal or a waw-prefixed verb following the qatal form; similarly, present actions and future events are usually indicated by yiqtol or a waw-prefixed verb following the yiqtol. This means that habitual actions in the past are usually expressed by qatal. He calculates that the chance of a qatal referring to the future is 18 per cent; of a yiqtol referring to the past, 1. 1 per cent. However, 4QMMT has some anomalies that put it closer to Mishnaic Hebrew than the other documents. A useful study.
L.L. G
R
This slim volume explores the interrelationship in the MT (as evidenced by Codex Leningrad) between the pausal forms and the system of accentuation. R. demonstrates that they are two related but different systems of dividing the text. While much of the time they agree with one another, there are multiple cases where they offer two different readings of a given sentence insofar as they (1) group different words together and (2) position the sentence breaks at different places. R. further argues that although the writing down of the accents may be earlier than the writing down of the vowel signs, the reading tradition represented by the pausal forms predates the system of accentuation. The first half of the book contains an introduction and five chapters, each one dealing with a type of pausal form: pausal forms, minor pausal forms, ‘type 4’ forms, forms which display nesigah, and forms with a conjunctive waw with qames. R. discusses the difference in pronunciation between contextual and pausal forms. He also explores their position in a sentence and to what degree they correlate with the accents, giving illustrative examples. R. argues that the pausal forms testify to an early system of disjunctives/terminal markers. The Appendix in the second half of the volume lists all instances of such terminal markers and categorizes them in accordance with the aforementioned five categories. In his discussions, R. incorporates many insights of Israeli scholars whose research has so far only been available in Modern Hebrew.
L.-S. T
R
Rather than being an extension of the authors’ previous work on the dating of texts, they are at pains to point out that the present volume is concerned with the historical linguistics of Biblical Hebrew as a language. In broad terms, their survey of historical linguistics from a cross-linguistic and cross-disciplinary perspective sets the stage for a robust critique of previous research on the history of Biblical Hebrew by Hebraists and offers specific methods which they believe will enhance historical linguistic research on Biblical Hebrew. The first of these, cross-textual variable analysis, compares language variation in different versions of the same writing, and is introduced and then illustrated first by texts from beyond the Hebrew Bible, then by a set of synoptic texts within the Hebrew Bible, and then by an analysis of language variation in the book of Samuel in its various witnesses and manuscripts. A second approach, variational analysis, which charts the changing proportions of language variables in different writings, is then carefully introduced. Extra-biblical examples of variational analysis are then followed by an assortment of grammatical and lexical studies illustrating the analytic power of the approach. While not all will be convinced by its conclusions, the volume as a whole is a detailed and forceful case for the rewriting of a history of Biblical Hebrew based on a study of text and language together, with ‘variation’ as the central analytic concept.
D.J. S
R
The three chapters in this monograph are based on a 2013 Cambridge thesis. They are full of detailed argumentation, much of which takes Biblical Hebrew grammar and discourse analysis to new levels of pleasurable uncertainty. Had R. not made painstaking efforts to outline her arguments in detail, readers who feel more like traditional Hebraists than modern linguists might easily have been content to dip into her book instead of reading it from cover to cover. In the first chapter (‘A Foundation in Cognitive Linguistics’) she selects core elements of cognitive linguistics as a background for her analysis of consecutive verbal forms (wayyiqtol; weqatal; weyiqtol) in the second chapter (‘Schematic Continuity’). Sometimes she does this for a verse or two but shows that the pattern can extend over a whole paragraph, a term she defines clearly and concisely. Verb sequences in a paragraph can naturally also be found in larger units of a narrative. In the third chapter (‘Schematic Discontinuity’) she examines some passages where the verbal form is not what is expected according to standard rules of grammar, with the result that there is an apparent disruption in the theme. She argues from the principles of cognitive linguistics she had outlined by anticipation in ch. 1 that such schematic discontinuity does not necessarily demand textual emendation, and that the verbs of the MT can be seen as maintaining a modal or temporal nuance which enhances our appreciation of the narrative as a whole.
M.E.J. R
S
For a review of this volume, see Section 5 (V) above.
W
This book does exactly what the title and subtitle indicate. It responds to the increasingly widespread use of Bible software by neither traditionalist rejection nor uncritical acceptance, as the introduction explains, but by providing a key to the grammatical terms embedded in such software. Thus a non-Hebraist software user is supplied with explanations for all the terms in tags like ‘apocopated hiphil imperfect with waw consecutive’. Some 54 terms are explained, each conveniently on a double-page spread under three headings: ‘What it Looks Like’, ‘What it Does’, and ‘An Exegetical Insight’. The first two sections are workmanlike, with basic explanations which should help the studious beginner. The exegetical insights of the third section are usually basic, like the value of recognizing masculine/feminine/common forms, but at least illustrate the grammar under discussion. In practice it may be difficult for non-Hebraists to understand the explanations via the Hebrew characters used, despite the various arrows and brackets. More importantly, only regular verbal forms are presented, which will hardly help when the majority of forms encountered in the biblical text are irregular. Further, there is no mention of common exceptions, like omission of the object marker or directional he, which could help the novice. The book concludes with seven appendixes (on consonants, vowels, gutturals, syllables, shewas, dageshes, effect of accents, and pronunciation), a Scriptural index and a very select bibliography. There will always be fundamental difficulties with a linguistic guide for non-readers of the language. Nevertheless, there are a growing number of non-Hebraists who use Bible software, and any good guide to Hebrew terminology must be welcomed. As long as such software users remember that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing!
P.S. J