Page:A Hebrew and English Lexicon (Brown-Driver-Briggs).djvu/231

 n n before dentals, sibilants, and liquids, the I is written but not pronounced, tlius Lr ^ J Dl pron. 'ash-shamsu-=- Heb. t^C^L 1 ) — m g en - the use of the art. in Heb. is analogous to its use in Greek or German: but naturally there are applications peculiar to Hebrew (comp. with what follows Ges' 126 Ew ,sn ): — 1. joined with substantives: a. to mark a definite concrete object, as Gn I 1 the heavens and t/ie earth, ^ED the king, etc. Never, however (as in Greek e.g. o nXoro)i/),before true proper names, though it is used with certain terms, chiefly geographical, of which the orig. appellative sense has not been lost, as ^3? ' Baal,' lit. ' the lord,' in pi. D^V3ri i.e. the various local Baals, JB&n the Adversary Jb i 6ff - (as a pr. n. ]$?, 'Satan,' only I Ch 2 1 1 ); ftoWl (but not ito"]nri), |T)>n (but not jrisn), bcnan, pit^n the Sharon, rhtfn the (Judaean) iowland, "Oan, I^Bn the (Moabite) table-land, n3-jyn, <yn <«Ai,' n^an 'Gibeah,' Ju2o 5tt, Wan 'Galilee,' b&in, 'yia^an, je^n, T$W (oft.), ctpE'n, nssen, ncnn, po'^n, PQJJn, ilJDSn. b. with an adjective to denote one who exhibits a quality nor e£oxij», i.e. to express the compar. or superl. degree : so oft., as Gn i 16 b~in "llNDn the greater light, "UKOn )t2pn the lesser light, 2 f'i'njn U3=shii elder son, 48 14 TJJXn the younger, 42 13 [bj3n the little one, i. e. the youngest (of Joseph's brethren), Lv 2 1 10 Vnso ^injri the chiefest of his brethren, Nu as^ + irun ;ri3n the chief priest, 'a -vyvn the least among Ju 6 15, JO nTyvn the least of 1 S 9", '3 ns>n the fairest among Ct I 8 , 2 K io 3 Pr 30 30 , cf. Jos 14 15 . c. with nouns which are not definite in themselves, but acquire, their definition from the context, or from the manner in which they are introduced : thus (a) in the standing phrases tifrn to-day, Gn4 u 2i 26 + oft. ; i"6^?n to-night, Gn 19 5 30 ,5 + , once 1 S 15 16 last night; so HJE-'n this year, 2 K 19 29 Jer28 16 ; D5??lI this time, Gn 1 8 32 +. (&) in|n the river (kot i%pxw>), i.e. the Euphrates; Ex2 15 the well, the well viz. of the district, Jos 8" the valley, 1S17 3 ; 1 Sig w the wall, u thehed, 20 21 iy|n the lad (whom Jonathan would naturally take with him), v 34 tlie table. Hence occas. where a suffix would define the noun more precisely, as "lionn 2 S 19"+ =my ass, Ju 3 20 1 Si 9 NS?n=/ t 2aseat, Ju 4 ls i K22 35 2K io 15 + n33"lDri, 1 S 18 10 20 33 n^nn. d. it is a pecu- liarity of Hebrew thought to conceive an object as defined by its being taken for a par- ticular purpose, and thus by a kind of pro- lepsis to prefix the art. to the noun denoting it : 1 S io 1 and Samuel took R#J W™$ lit. the cruse of oil, not, however, a cruse which had been defined previously, but one rendered definite by being now taken; in English idiom ' a cruse of oil,' v 26 ">SB? lit. in the scroll or book, the one, viz. taken for the purpose, i.e. in a scroll (so Ex 17" Nu s 23 Jb 19 23 ), 21 10 nbotez, JU4 19 n^ntrs viEoni, v 19 7 13 ^nsn a tent, 8 s5 9 48 nbTlgrrriK hatchets, 20" every one able to sling fnyj?? «>K WJ¥ with a stone at a hair, 1 S 6 s W"1$Q (unless indeed the 13"]N was an understood appendage in every cart), Nu 1 1 27 "^n a young man, 13 23 tttos on a pole, Jos 2" inna with a cord, 2S 17 17 nrlSB'n a girl (cf. jj r 1 s 1. < : i». is y g^. s _ j t j g uncer tain whether an art. is to be referred to c or d: e.g. 1 S 2 13 his prong or a prong, 2 S 18 9 his mule or a mule, etc. e. with nouns that denote objects or classes of objects that are known to all, as [KXr^arijn, D^QH; Gn 13 2 Abram was very rich arp* s|D3a njptsa, Ex 3 1 4 ^Dsai anja rttfffa, Dt 1 4 26 and thou shalt lay out the money "^33 -OtSQI f«31 |NX31, 2 K 9 30 iWV. T 133 D'OTl, in French ' elle mit du fard k ses yeux.' It is, however, remarkable that this usage depends mostly on the punctuation, 'ID??, P?0, E n ^ n etc. (except as applied to denote definite quan- tities of gold, wine, etc., as Jos 6 24 ) being far less common than 'IDS, |* etc., but ^032, tD"£> etc. being much more freq. than e )D33 ) HM? etc. : for instances in which the art. forms part of the consonantal text, see Gn6 M 7 8 + «]iyn and noron, Dt8 3 Dn^n, 1 K5 8 "Is28 7 120 andi?^, 60 17 Ez 15 47 .&%?, Hb 2 6 Pr 20 1 ^65" ItteQ, Ct i 11 Ec 7 12 . Cf. below, h. f. in com- parisons, the object compared being, as a rule, not an individual as such, but one exhibiting the characteristics of a class: Is i 18 D^t^?, V?iri3 like scarlet, like crimson (both meant generally), S 24 "JIT pB3, v 28 TO and nB133, io 14 IS?, 13 8 ni?i>3 (as always with this word, e.g. 42 14 V 4« 7 )' " 7 " 1 5? 3 ;+ oft - (The usage is not, however, quite uniform, at least ace. to the punctuation : there occurs e.g. B*t>3 Jb 4 1 2 ' Is 47 14 ; nn«3 f 7 s a l. : and we find both t«fcs Is 5 » and *$| Ho 13 8 ; ,- i«3 Is 38" and 'IK? Nu 24 9 ; 113?? Is 4 2 "and 11333 Jb 16 14 ; etc.) ' Similarly Gn 19 28 (fb?n nb'p3 as the smoke of a furnace, Nu 1 1 812 Xf) X*l pa'rrnK JCKri, Dt28 29 ("V^n), J u 8 ,8b V. 3 n «'~ 3 ?l!?? n, M 6 ' l 1? n S'BB'a like (a lion's) rending