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Gen 1:24 וְחַֽיְתוֹ
Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2021 11:53 pm
by SteveMiller
Genesis 1:24 וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים תּוֹצֵ֙א הָאָ֜רֶץ נֶ֤פֶשׁ חַיָּה֙ לְמִינָ֔הּ בְּהֵמָ֥ה וָרֶ֛מֶשׂ וְחַֽיְתוֹ־אֶ֖רֶץ לְמִינָ֑הּ וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃
Why is there a vav on the end of וְחַֽיְתוֹ ?
In the following verse
Genesis 1:2 וַיַּ֣עַשׂ אֱלֹהִים֩ אֶת־חַיַּ֙ת הָאָ֜רֶץ
חַיַּ֙ת does not have the vav suffix.
Thanks
Re: Gen 1:24 וְחַֽיְתוֹ
Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2021 11:21 am
by Kenneth Greifer
Steve,
There are other quotes spelled that way. I got them from biblehub and I did not check if the quote numbers are right. Psalm 104:11, Isaiah 56:9, Psalm 50:10, Psalm 104:20, and Zephaniah 2:14.
Re: Gen 1:24 וְחַֽיְתוֹ
Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2021 11:27 am
by Jason Hare
They say that it’s a remnant of the case system.
Re: Gen 1:24 וְחַֽיְתוֹ
Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2021 11:52 am
by SteveMiller
Thanks Kenneth. All those verses are correct.
Thanks Jason. Do they think the vav ending here is accusative?
Re: Gen 1:24 וְחַֽיְתוֹ
Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2021 1:58 pm
by Jason Hare
Well, it certainly would be an accusative here, but I don’t think it’s something that would been conscious in the mind of the author, since the case system had long before fallen out of use.
Re: Gen 1:24 וְחַֽיְתוֹ
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2021 7:13 am
by Jason Hare
HALOT actually gives חַיְתוֹ as an alternative form of the construct, listing several verses in which it takes this form in construct. If that’s the case, then it may be like אָב that has an alternative construct form as אֲבִי in addition to the anticipated אַב.
I חַיָּה: חיה, fem. of חַי, “living” (Brockelmann Heb. Syn. §16f); Ph. חית (Harris 100), → BArm. חֵיוָה, Mnd. (MdD 141b): cs. חַיַּת and חַיְתוֹ (7 ×, BL 525i), חַיָּתוֹ, חַיּוֹת: animals, חַיּוֹת or sg. coll., seldom individual animal Gn 37:20 —1. all kinds of animals, in most cases animals that are not domesticated, living in their own habitat (Tigr. Wb. 94a lion): חַיַּת חָאָרֶץ Gn 1:25 cj. 26 1S 17:46 Ezk 29:5, חַיְתוֹ אֶרֶץ (GK §130a) Gn 1:24 Ps 79:2, חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה Gn 2:19 3:1 Ex 23:11 Is 43:20 Hos 2:14 Jb 40:20 חַיְתוֹ שָׂדַי Is 56:9 Ps 104:11, חַיְתוֹ יָֽעַר Ps 50:10 104:20, חַיְתוֹ בַיָּֽעַר Is 56:9, cj. חַיְתוֹ גָֽיְא Zeph 2:14; metaph. חַיַּת קָנֶה (= Eg.) Ps 68:31; כָּל־חַיָּה Gn 1:28 9:5, כָּל־הַחַיָּה 7:14 8:1, 17, הַחַיָּה 7:21; land animals (:: עוֹף and דָּגָה) Gn 1:28 8:19 Lv 11:2; cattle Nu 35:3, pack animals Is 46:1, aquatic animals Ps 104:25; חַיָּה טְמֵאָה Lv 5:2, ח׳ נֶאֱכֶלֶת fit to eat 11:47, חַיּוֹת טְהֹרוֹת 14:4, צֵיד חַיָּה (: I צַיִד) 17:13, small and great חַיּוֹת Ps 104:25; —2. wild animals, beasts of prey (:: בְּהֵמָה 3) Ezk 14:15 33:27 Zeph 2:15 Ps 148:10 Jb 37:8; חַיָּה רָעָה Gn 37:20, 33 Lv 26:6 Ezk 5:17 14:15, 21 34:25, פְּרִיץ חַיּוֹת (Brockelmann Heb. Syn. §76b, e) ravenous beast Is 35:9; —3. חַיּוֹת beast-like creatures (< MHb. belonging to the class of angels) Ezk 1:5, 13-22 3:13, collective חַיָּה 1:20-22.10:15, 17, 20; —Gn 8:19 rd. בְּהֵמָה; 2S 23:11 rd. לֶחְיָה n.loc. (II *לְחִי); 23:13 rd. חַוַּת (I חַוָּה); Ps 68:11 rd. מִחְיָֽתְךָ; 74:19 rd. לְהַוֹּת (II הַוָּה); ? Ezk 7:13a.b.
Ludwig Koehler et al., The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994–2000), 310.
Given that it appears in such a diverse group of texts (חַיְתוֹ appears as construct in Genesis, Psalms, Isaiah, and Zephaniah), I think it’s just a stuck form that was in the writers’ minds and came out in texts as simply an alternative form, though it probably arose as a remnant of the case system.
Re: Gen 1:24 וְחַֽיְתוֹ
Posted: Sun May 15, 2022 12:03 pm
by David Colo
SteveMiller wrote: ↑Thu Nov 18, 2021 11:53 pm
Why is there a vav on the end of
וְחַֽיְתוֹ ?
Although Biblical Hebrew appears uniform, there are linguistic layers that point to the fact that it has developed over a long period of time.
Although the case endings in Proto-Semitic fell away early on in the Northwest Semitic languages, they continued to be preserved in some places--particularly where a word with the case ending was combined with another word to form a new word or a complete and memorable phrase. In that case, the case ending might be preserved between them. So, for example,
שְׁמוּאֵל (Samuel) in 1 Sam 1:20 preserves the case ending on "name" (
שְׁמוּ). Again,
בְּנֹו בְעֹר in Num 24:3 preserves the case ending on "son" (
בְּנֹו).
Yod also appears as the preservation of a case ending. In Amos 6:6, for example, we see
השׁתים במזרקי יין. If the
yod on
במזרקי is not a case of dittography, it probably represents the oblique (dative) case ending: "in bowls" they drink wine.
It might be fun to collect examples of archaic forms like this... A master list, so to speak, for people to add to...