Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/165

 passives of Qal. He reckons as such all those perfects, of which the (which ought to express the corresponding active) is either not found at all, or only (as in the case of ) with a different meaning, and which form their  from another conjugation, generally Niphʿal. Such perfects are the quṭṭal form of the stems, , , , , , , , ,. Barth (see below) adds to the list the apparent -perfects of, , , , , , , , , and of verbs with middle (hence with ŭ of the first syllable lengthened to ō), ,   [, see ], , , , , , ; also the infinitives absolute. In these cases there is no need to assume any error on the part of the punctuators; the sharpening of the second radical may have taken place in order to retain the characteristic ŭ of the first syllable (cf. Arab. qŭtĭlă as passive of qătălă), and the a of the second syllable is in accordance with the vocalization of all the other passives (see ). Cf. and.

2. The fundamental idea of, to which all the various shades of meaning in this conjugation may be referred, is to busy oneself eagerly with the action indicated by the stem. This intensifying of the idea of the stem, which is outwardly expressed by the strengthening of the second radical, appears in individual cases as—(a) a strengthening and repetition of the action (cf. the intensive and iterative nouns with the middle radical strengthened, ), e.g., Piʿēl to jest, to make sport (to laugh repeatedly); , Piʿēl to beg; hence when an action has reference to many, e.g. (a person) , Piʿēl to bury (many) , and often so in Syr. and Arab. Other varieties of the intensive and iterative meaning are, e.g., Piʿēl to loose; , Piʿēl to recount: [cf. ,, , , , ; , ].

The eager pursuit of an action may also consist in urging and causing others to do the same. Hence has also—(b) a causative sense (like ), e.g., Piʿēl to teach. It may often be turned by such phrases as to permit to, to declare or hold as (the declarative Piʿēl), to help to, e.g., ,.

(c) Denominatives (see ) are frequently formed in this conjugation, and generally express a being occupied with the object expressed by the noun, either to form or to make use of it, e.g. (from ),  (from ),