Maqqef vs inseparable, and choices in pronouns

A place for those new to Biblical Hebrew to ask basic questions about the language of the Hebrew Bible.
Forum rules
Members will observe the rules for respectful discourse at all times!
Please sign all posts with your first and last (family) name.
briceg
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 11:04 am

Maqqef vs inseparable, and choices in pronouns

Post by briceg »

I am a seminary student and in some of my assignments, I translate English to Hebrew.

Are there guidelines in picking the prepositional or pronominal forms to use when there are options?

For instance when do we use the maqqef form versus the inseparable form of מִנ? Or use הֵמ rather than הֵמָה?
Last edited by briceg on Wed Apr 13, 2022 8:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
Brice Giesbrecht
Indiana USA
User avatar
Jason Hare
Posts: 1920
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2013 5:07 am
Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
Contact:

Re: Maqqef vs inseparable, and choices in pronouns

Post by Jason Hare »

There’s no difference between מִן־הַשָּׁמַ֫יִם and מֵהַשָּׁמַ֫יִם. You can choose to use either one. הֵ֫מָּה (notice the dagesh) is far rarer than הֵם.

One thing that is NECESSARY, though, is the use of final forms. You cannot write שמימ and מנ. You must use the final mem and nun and write שמים and מן.
Jason Hare
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Hebrew Café
יוֹדֵ֣עַ צַ֭דִּיק נֶ֣פֶשׁ בְּהֶמְתּ֑וֹ וְֽרַחֲמֵ֥י רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים אַכְזָרִֽי׃
ספר משלי י״ב, י׳
briceg
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 11:04 am

Re: Maqqef vs inseparable, and choices in pronouns

Post by briceg »

Thank you for that. And yes, I need to consult my keyboard layout for those final forms.
Brice Giesbrecht
Indiana USA
S_Walch
Posts: 343
Joined: Fri May 23, 2014 4:41 pm

Re: Maqqef vs inseparable, and choices in pronouns

Post by S_Walch »

The following has handy info for the beginning Hebrew typer:

http://bibleandtech.blogspot.com/2010/0 ... ebrew.html
Ste Walch
bdenckla
Posts: 25
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2022 11:28 am

Re: Maqqef vs inseparable, and choices in pronouns

Post by bdenckla »

If you are translating to vocalized-but-not-cantillated Biblical Hebrew, I wonder whether it is appropriate to use maqaf at all on words like מִן. I say this because I tend to think of maqaf in Biblical Hebrew as part of the system of cantillation, not vocalization, inasmuch as those two systems can be separated. (Formally speaking, they cannot be separated, since there are cases in which the cantillation influences the vocalization, but for many purposes it is useful to think of them as two separate systems.)

So, for example in בראשית ב,ו (Genesis 2:6) we have מִן־הָאָ֑רֶץ a maqaf compound cantillated with etnaxta.

But removing the etnaxta and writing מִן־הָאָרֶץ looks a little weird to my eyes, looking a little like "from-the_earth" in English. (Here I have to invent a form of English where the article "the" is attached to the noun with an underscore, to show what I mean.)

In other words, in non-cantillated Hebrew, one would expect the maqaf to be used only in situations similar to those where a dash would be used in English.

So, if you are tasked with translating "from the earth" to vocalized-but-not-cantillated Biblical Hebrew, to me מִן הָאָרֶץ would be the way to go.
Ben Denckla
Contributor, MAM & UXLC.
User avatar
Jason Hare
Posts: 1920
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2013 5:07 am
Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
Contact:

Re: Maqqef vs inseparable, and choices in pronouns

Post by Jason Hare »

I disagree with that. It seems perfectly right to me to write מִן־הָאָרֶץ makes perfect sense, since the chirik in מִן is short and shouldn’t stand alone. To me, this helps mark long and short vowels and transcends the needs of cantillation. If you don’t include vowels at all, I can understand leaving the makaf off of it.
Jason Hare
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Hebrew Café
יוֹדֵ֣עַ צַ֭דִּיק נֶ֣פֶשׁ בְּהֶמְתּ֑וֹ וְֽרַחֲמֵ֥י רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים אַכְזָרִֽי׃
ספר משלי י״ב, י׳
bdenckla
Posts: 25
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2022 11:28 am

Re: Maqqef vs inseparable, and choices in pronouns

Post by bdenckla »

I guess one of the problems in resolving this question is AFAIK there isn't a large body of vocalized-but-not-cantillated Hebrew text, from which we could try to figure out what the maqaf conventions (if any) were.

I have heard that modern children's books in Hebrew are sometimes (often?) written with vowels? So, I wonder what, if any, their conventions are, surrounding use of maqaf.

Also of course there are siddurim (prayerbooks). Those could be more relevant to the original question than children's books since of course many prayers use Biblical phrases or even entire Biblical passages, particularly from Tehillim (Psalms).
Ben Denckla
Contributor, MAM & UXLC.
bdenckla
Posts: 25
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2022 11:28 am

Re: Maqqef vs inseparable, and choices in pronouns

Post by bdenckla »

Here's one data point about the role of maqaf in "VbnC" ("vocalized but not cantillated") text. (Many data points would have to be collected to get a sense of what conventions, if any, exist about the use of maqaf in such texts.).

In a "random" Artscroll siddur I happen to have, the Psalms at the back are VbnC and do not use maqaf, or at least certainly do not use it with anything like the frequency with which it appears in full (cantillated) versions of the text.

I created a GitHub Gist to show some relevant images, since I don't think I can directly include or attach images here:

https://gist.github.com/bdenckla/d5bf00 ... d3ae160d7d
Ben Denckla
Contributor, MAM & UXLC.
User avatar
Jason Hare
Posts: 1920
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2013 5:07 am
Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
Contact:

Re: Maqqef vs inseparable, and choices in pronouns

Post by Jason Hare »

Notice, though, that modern Hebrew ignores vowel lengths. For its purposes, דִּיבֶּר is perfectly acceptable, just like מְדוּבֶּ֫רֶת. If we are concerned with vowel lengths (and biblical Hebrew does display such a concern), we should be aware that מִן is necessarily joined to the word that follows it and bares a short vowel (min-), whereas writing it without a makaf would produce a situation in which we would expect a long vowel (mīn-). If we’re talking about biblical Hebrew, we would not allow דִּיבֶּר (with a long vowel in a closed, unaccented syllable) or מִן (since this word intentionally has a short vowel, as opposed to מִין mîn “kind, type”).
Jason Hare
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Hebrew Café
יוֹדֵ֣עַ צַ֭דִּיק נֶ֣פֶשׁ בְּהֶמְתּ֑וֹ וְֽרַחֲמֵ֥י רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים אַכְזָרִֽי׃
ספר משלי י״ב, י׳
bdenckla
Posts: 25
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2022 11:28 am

Re: Maqqef vs inseparable, and choices in pronouns

Post by bdenckla »

Thanks Jason, I see now that I was ignoring your point about vowel length. I see now that the more refined question is what maqaf marks need to be retained in order to still obey the rules of Biblical Hebrew. In this sense perhaps maqaf straddles the vocalization and cantillation systems, providing an example of how these systems cannot easily be separated.

I.e., some maqaf marks are presumably "just for cantillation," i.e., they can be dropped without forming "illegal" words. But some cannot just be dropped thusly.
Ben Denckla
Contributor, MAM & UXLC.
Post Reply