Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/197

 II. The Weak Verb.

Brockelmann,, p. 138 ff.; , p. 595 ff.

The weakness of initial consists chiefly in its suffering aphaeresis in the  and  in some of these verbs (cf. ). On the other hand, the assimilation of the  (see below) cannot properly be regarded as weakness, since the triliteral character of the stem is still preserved by the strengthening of the second consonant. The special points to be noticed are—

1. The aphaeresis of the Nûn (a) in the. This occurs only (though not necessarily) in those verbs which have a in the second syllable of the. Thus from the stem, ,  properly , but always lengthened by the feminine termination  to the segholate form  ; with suffix  ; with the concurrence of a guttural , imperfect , infinitive  (also , see below); , infinitive  (also , see below); on the verb , see especially  and. On the other hand, aphaeresis does not take place in verbs which have ō in the, e.g. , imperfect , infinitive , with suffix , also ; , &c.; cf., moreover,  , &c.,   (even  ; cf. ); with suffix. Also  (but  ); , ; with suffix   (elsewhere , cf.  and ),.

(b) In the. Here the Nûn is always dropped in verbs with a in the, e.g. ,  (more frequently with , ; before  also  ), plur. , &c. Parallel with these there are the curious forms with ō,  (with  Metheg in the second syllable, and also, according to , before ) and   (before ),  (before ) and ; in all these cases without the. With Nûn retained, as if in a strong verb,, ( , without assimilation of the Nûn),  , , ; cf. also the verbs, which are at the same time ; ,  ,  , &c.; the verb ,   (usually ); cf. . But, as in the infinitive, the aphaeresis never takes place in verbs which have ō in the, e.g. , , &c.