B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

Is אבדך singular or plural?

MGWB wrote:Is אבדך singular or plural?

As a verb, it’s singular, as seen in Genesis 24:48, Haggai 2:19, Psalm 16:7, 26:12, 132:15.

Does it mean the same in Genesis 41:43? Is it even a Hebrew word? Or is it a transliteration of an Egyptian word? It doesn’t fit the pattern used in the other five verses.

Karl W. Randolph.

Karl, it appears you've misread the word.

It's not always easy to answer such questions without any context and without any vowels, but this looks like the word אבד with a 2nd singular suffix. The complete form is attested only in Deut 28:20, 22; Ezek 28:16. Alone (without context) it could be any of a number of verb forms or a noun. About all I can say definitively is that the suffix is singular.

It could even feasibly be a form of בדך, but I don't know of such a word.

enkidu wrote:Karl, it appears you've misread the word.

It's not always easy to answer such questions without any context …

Yes, I did misread the word.

I have repeatedly mentioned that I have dyslexia, and that the way to compensate for my dyslexia is to read in context. At first I was ready to ask for context, but when I noticed how seldom used is the word I misread it for, I thought I could answer the question.

Please, in the future, give context with the question.

The word אבד is found used as “to be(come) lost, with the idea of not being able to be found ⇒ to destroy utterly so that it no longer can be found, sometimes a euphemism for to die for the one who is dead is lost to us”

You’re right, the suffix is second person singular. If that is to be read as a verb, it’s third person singular.

Karl W. Randolph.

Michael,

Please stop using B-Hebrew as your drive-thru Hebrew ATM. This is a discussion forum, not just an info dispensary. Although we all have various levels of Hebrew, membership of the forum assumes some familiarity with Hebrew. If you're after explanations of grammatical phenomena from a beginner's point of view, then fine. Ask away and we'll engage. But please don't just ask the forum to parse individual words for you, as though the members were here to do your homework.

Thank you.

I'm 54 years old and I don't have homework, unless you mean staying at home to care for a partially paralyzed 80 year old father who's confined to a hospital bed here in the house.

I've seen some software I'd like to get, but dad's on a fixed income, and I have none, as taking care of him is a full time job.

I apologize for not having a better understanding of Hebrew, or more time and resources, but I do appreciate any help those of you with more knowledge here can give me.

Thank you.