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8. FS אוה versus אי ִ ה

  • Aaron D. Hornkohl (author)
Chapter of: Diachronic Diversity in Classical Biblical Hebrew(pp. 145–154)

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Metadata
Title8. FS אוה versus אי ִ ה
ContributorAaron D. Hornkohl (author)
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0433.08
Landing pagehttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0433/chapters/10.11647/obp.0433.08
Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
CopyrightAaron D. Hornkohl
PublisherOpen Book Publishers
Published on2024-11-11
Long abstractThe Tiberian written tradition of the Pentateuch is notable outlier when it comes to the third-person feminine singular (3FS) independent subject pronoun. Written היא in most of the Masoretic Bible and elsewhere throughout ancient Hebrew sources and traditions, it appears as הוא in the Tiberian Torah. Explanations for the anomaly can be divided into graphic and linguistic categories. Graphic explanations suggest that הוא is a mistake. Linguistic explanations propose various theories about the morphology of the pronouns. One suggestion posits that the Tiberian Torah preserves an epicene 3CS pronoun, which does not appear in other biblical texts, leading to speculation about its historical usage. Alternatively, some researchers propose that the written forms reflect distinct morphological developments for the 3FS pronoun, which later aligned with standard usage in the reading tradition. These linguistic theories suggest a more complex diachronic development of pronouns within the Tiberian Pentateuch, which may have allowed for the preservation of older forms, the realisation of which eventually aligned with later linguistic practices in other biblical texts. Ultimately, all explanations remain speculative, emphasising the need for further research to elucidate the relationship between the written and reading traditions of the Tiberian Torah, as well as the broader implications for the historical evolution of Hebrew pronominal forms.
Page rangepp. 145–154
Print length10 pages
LanguageEnglish (Original)
Contributors

Aaron D. Hornkohl

(author)
Associate Professor in Hebrew at University of Cambridge
https://www.ames.cam.ac.uk/people/dr-aaron-d-hornkohl

Aaron D. Hornkohl (PhD, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2012) is University Associate Professor in Hebrew, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge. His research focuses on ancient Hebrew philology and linguistics, especially historical linguistics and ancient Hebrew periodisation; the components of the standard Tiberian Masoretic biblical tradition; and that tradition’s profile in the context of other biblical traditions and extrabiblical sources. This is his third single-author monograph after The Historical Depth of the Tiberian Reading Tradition of Biblical Hebrew (Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2023) and Ancient Hebrew Periodization and the Book of Jeremiah (Leiden: Brill 2014). He has also co-edited several volumes and written numerous articles.