Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/232

 Of quite a different class are those verbs of which the third radical is a consonantal  (distinguished by ). These are inflected throughout like verbs tertiae gutturalis. Cf. §65 note on the heading.

The grammatical structure of verbs (see Paradigm P) is based on the following laws:—

1. In all forms in which the original or  would stand at the end of the word, it is dropped (cf. ) and  takes its place as an orthographic indication of the preceding long vowel. Such an indication would have been indispensable, on practical grounds, in the still unvocalized consonantal text. But even after the addition of the vowel signs, the orthographic rule remained, with insignificant exceptions (see, and ā in , &c.), that a final vowel must be indicated by a vowel letter. In verbs the  which is here employed as a vowel letter is preceded by the same vowel in the same part of the verb throughout all the conjugations. Thus the endings are—

in all perfects,, , , &c.

in all imperfects and participles,, , &c.

in all imperatives,, , &c.

in the infinitive absolute (, &c.), except in Hiphʿîl, Hophʿal, and generally also Piēl, see aa and ff.

The participle passive Qal alone forms an exception, the original (or, see v) reappearing at the end, ; and so also some derived nouns (, ε, &c.).

The always has the ending  (with ); ,  , &c.; for exceptions, see n and y.

These forms may be explained as follows:—in the  stands, according to the above, for, and, similarly, in Niphʿal, Puʿal, and. The and  may be based on the forms,  (and ), and  on the form , on the analogy of the ă in the second syllable of the Arabic ʿáqtălă. Perhaps, however, the finalā of these conjugations simply follows the analogy of the other conjugations.

The explanation of the final tone-bearing of the  is still a matter of dispute. As to the various treatments of it, see Barth,, i. p. xxx ff, with § 136, Rem., and xliv. 695 f., against Philippi’s objections in the Zeitschrift für Völkerpsychologie, 1890, p. 356 f.; also lvi. 244, where Barth appeals to the rule that, in the period before the differentiation of the North Semitic dialects, final iy becomes, not î; M. Lambert, Journ. Asiat. 1893, p. 285; Prätorius, lv. 365. The most probable explanation now seems to be, first, that the uniform pronunciation of all imperfects and participles with in the last syllable merely follows the analogy of the ''impf. Qal, and secondly, that the of the impf. Qal does perhaps ultimately represent a contraction of the original termination (= ai), although elsewhere (e.g. in the  of ) ai is usually contracted to ê''.