On the Meaning of הֵעִיד in Biblical Hebrew: Between Summoning Witnesses and Imposing Oaths

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Orit Malka
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Hebrew ◽  
Semantic Field ◽  
Secondary Meaning

Abstract The verb הֵעִיד in Biblical Hebrew is understood by most scholars primarily within the semantic field of עֵד, “witness.” However, many of its biblical occurrences do not befit this reading. These were interpreted according to the context, as bearing the meaning of: “to warn,” “to assure,” “to command.” Explaining the connection between all aspects of the verb poses a challenge. The present paper argues that all these meaning are in fact interrelated: they all derive from the meaning of הֵעִיד (and the verbal phrase הֵעִיד בְּ) as implying the imposition of an oath. Oaths are based on the summoning of divine witnesses as guarantors of the sworn undertakings. Convocation of witnesses thus became associated with oaths, and consequently הֵעִיד developed a secondary meaning of imposing an oath. Understanding the verb הֵעִיד as implying the imposition of an oath will reconcile the various meanings attributed to this verb, and unveil the internal links between them.

scholarly journals Sounds of Silence in Biblical Hebrew: A Lexical Study

2012 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Göran Eidevall
Keyword(s):  
English Word ◽  
Biblical Hebrew ◽  
Semantic Field ◽  
Semantic Resources ◽  
Lexical Study ◽  
And Function

AbstractThis article explores the semantic resources of biblical Hebrew, when it comes to speaking about silence. The aim is to reach more clarity concerning the sense and function of pertinent lexemes, and to contribute to a better understanding of the “semantic field” of silence. It is demonstrated that biblical Hebrew had several verbs with the sense “to be silent” (= abstain from speech), but no noun corresponding to the English word “silence” (denoting a situation characterized by the absence of speech or by the complete lack of audible sounds). However, the domains of silence and stillness overlap. Thus, when the biblical writers wanted to describe a situation of “silence”, they could choose one of several words associated with the wider concept of stillness.

A Guide to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bill T. Arnold ◽  
John H. Choi
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Hebrew

A Guide to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bill T. Arnold ◽  
John H. Choi
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Hebrew

Secondary Meaning in the Qur'an

2005 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-138
Author(s):  
Tammām Hassan
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Meaning

THE ROLE OF ANTHROPONYMS IN THE SEMANTIC FIELD OF ARTISTIC WORKS

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (29) ◽  
pp. 66-77
Author(s):  
Lidiya Derbenyova
Keyword(s):  
Literary Work ◽  
Main Theme ◽  
Semantic Field ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
Minor Part ◽  
The One ◽  
A Minor ◽  
And Storage ◽  
Horizon Of Expectations

The article explores the role of antropoetonyms in the reader’s “horizon of expectation” formation. As a kind of “text in the text”, antropoetonyms are concentrating a large amount of information on a minor part of the text, reflecting the main theme of the work. As a “text” this class of poetonyms performs a number of functions: transmission and storage of information, generation of new meanings, the function of “cultural memory”, which explains the readers’ “horizon of expectations”. In analyzing the context of the literary work we should consider the function of antropoetonyms in vertical context (the link between artistic and other texts, and the groundwork system of culture), as well as in the context of the horizontal one (times’ connection realized in the communication chain from the word to the text; the author’s intention). In this aspect, the role of antropoetonyms in the structure of the literary text is extremely significant because antropoetonyms convey an associative nature, generating a complex mechanism of allusions. It’s an open fact that they always transmit information about the preceding text and suggest a double decoding. On the one hand, the recipient decodes this information, on the other – accepts this as a sort of hidden, “secret” sense.

FUNCTIONAL AND SEMANTIC CHARACTERS OF AN ADDRESS IN UKRAINIAN AND FRENCH

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (28) ◽  
pp. 129-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tetiana Korolova ◽  
Nadiia Demianova
Keyword(s):  
Field Model ◽  
Semantic Field ◽  
The Status ◽  
Semantically Heterogeneous

The vocative function of an address being the basic one is supplemented and modified by a number of other functions actualized in communication, i.e. the phatic one (establishing and developing the contact with the addressee), the status one (reflecting the status responsibility of the communicants), the emotional and attitudinal one (characterizing the addressee and the attitude of the speaker towards the uttered information). Such modification explains the polyfunctional character of the address in communication. All units of address, just like the components of the addressing functional field, are polysemantic and polysemy comprises every type of an address. According to the communicative tasks the following functions can be stated within the vocative one: nominative (naming the addressee), deixis (identifying the addressee), vocative proper (attracting the addressee’s attention). The field model of addresses’ semantic structures allows to research standard and nonstandard vocatives. The standard addresses form the nucleus of the semantic field under research and characterize stability of their application in one of the above-mentioned functions. Nonstandard vocative lexemes (1 % of the total amount of the experimental material) can play the role of an address under certain circumstances. They form semantically heterogeneous (conditioned by a situation) group, located in the periphery area of the semantic field of addresses. The addresses that include anthroponyms form the most widely used group (64,5 % in Ukrainian and 68,1 % in French), the second place belongs to the addresses with appellatives (34,6 % and 29,9 %, correspondingly). As to the composition of appellatives in the status and role addresses they comprise 36,4 % in Ukrainian and 34,9 % in French. Attitudinal addresses reach 63 % and 65,1 %, correspondingly.

The Table of Grammar: Lqr't as Test Case

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
H. H. Hardy
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Hebrew ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Function Word ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Linguistic Development ◽  
Grammatical Categories ◽  
Evolutionary Growth ◽  
Content Item

Biblical Hebrew lqr't is situated at the intersection of grammatical categories as a content item and a function word. The analysis of any given token is confounded by this diversity and its variously encoded denotations: the infinitive construct “to meet” and the polysemous prepositions, the directional TOWARD and the adversative AGAINST. The usage in Exodus 14:27 (wmsrym nsym lqr'tw) prompts a number of different analyses. Interpretations include: hoi de aigyptioi ephygon hypo to hydor (LXX); wmsry' -'rqyn lqwblh (Peshitta); fugientibusque Ægyptiis occurrerunt aquæ (Vulgate); “the Egyptians fled at its approach” (NJPS); “the Egyptians fled before it” (NRSV); and “the Egyptians were fleeing toward it” (NIV). This study examines lqr't by comparing a range of grammatical methods. These approaches centre evolutionary growth (philology), syntagmatic and paradigmatic features (structuralism), functional usage (eclectic linguistics), and cross-linguistic development (grammaticalisation) in order to explore questions of the origin, development, and usage of lqr't. The combined approaches help to situate and construct an archaeology of linguistic knowledge and a genealogy of philological change of language and text.

Finding Missing Objects in Biblical Hebrew (with an Appendix on Missing Subjects)

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Cook
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Biblical Hebrew ◽  
Syntactic Status ◽  
Object Marking

Missing object complements are significant for the grammar and the lexicon. An explanation is called for of their syntactic status, the basis for their “recovery” or interpretation in discourse, constrictions on what type of objects may be missing, and their information-structure status in the context of object marking more generally. In this essay I present a taxonomy of missing complements in Biblical Hebrew from the perspective of information structure, focusing especially on the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic bases of their interpretation in the discourse. In an appendix I briefly explore the applicability of this taxonomy of missing objects to explain the interpretation of missing subjects in Biblical Hebrew discourse.

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