B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

We read
כִּי יַבְעֶר אִישׁ שָׂדֶה אוֹ כֶרֶם וְשִׁלַּח אֶת בְּעִירֹה וּבִעֵר בִּשְׂדֵה אַחֵר מֵיטַב שָׂדֵהוּ וּמֵיטַב כַּרְמוֹ יְשַׁלֵּם
NIV: If anyone grazes their livestock in a field or vineyard and lets them stray and they graze in someone else’s field, the offender must make restitution from the best of their own field or vineyard.

שָׂדֵהוּ = שדה-הוּא, but who is this הוּא, 'he', the offender, or the sufferer?

Isaac Fried, Boston University

The offender.

1. From a syntactic point of view, their is no sufferer; he is understood, but not mentioned. Thus the only grammatical referent available in the sentence is the אִישׁ.

2. From the very meaning of restitution. His cattle have taken valuable resources from another field, so he must make it right and replace what was eaten, with one qualification: that it be the best of his own field or vineyard.

Yes, this is indeed the prevailing understanding.
The invention of the personal pronouns, the universal temporary tagging or designation, is a truly remarkable idea. I brought this example to show that their universality may occasionally cause ambiguity.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Isaac,
1. can you define what you mean by "their universality?"
2. ambiguity is especially prominent in languages like English. E.g. the pronoun "them" does not carry any gender marking. In Psalm 12:6 the Authorized version reads:

The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

An English reader would typically think the psalm is referring to the words of the LORD. In this case it so happens that the ambiguity is actually not in Hebrew. אִֽמֲר֣וֹת is feminine plural, while the pronominal suffix on תִּשְׁמְרֵ֑ם is masculine plural, and the suffix on תִּצְּרֶ֓נּוּ is masc sing. After I started teaching in Swahili I was struck by the clarity of the language, and the near absence of ambiguity due to its detailed infix system. Let me provide an example. Here's a noun
KITABU, book (you'll recognize the root)
This noun is classified with all other nouns that begin with KI-. It has no gender, but it belongs to that class of nouns. This KI- suffix follows the noun through an entire sentence. Notice the noun phrase,
KITABU HIKI, this book.
The KI has found itself attached to the morpheme of proximity H- (the word "this" can vary depending on the suffix it takes from the noun class: huyu, hawa, huu, hii, hizi, hiki, hivi, hili, haya, hapa, huku, humu). This same KI- will show up as a subject prefix, or an object infix.

KITABU HIKI KITAKUFAIDISHA, This book will benefit you.
KITABU HIKI KI -TA -KU -FAIDISHA.
book this Subject Future Object 2PS benefit.

NIMEKISOMA, I have read it.
NI -ME -KI -SOMA
1PS Subj pres perf OAM read

Notice it's one word, but four words in translation

1. What I mean by their universality is that everything not confronting the speaker is referred by him as "he".

2. I hear in Swahili echoes of Hebrew, possibly via Arabic, to wit, היאכי, כי, אתה, כהוּ, את, אני, מי
The Hebrew word השלכתנוּ, for instance, is also a four-in-one:
השלכתנוּ = היא-שלך-אתה-אנוּ

3. The example of Psalm 12:7 is interesting
Ps.12:7
אַתָּה יהוה תִּשְׁמְרֵם תִּצְּרֶנּוּ מִן הַדּוֹר זוּ לְעוֹלָם
KJV: "Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever."
תִּשְׁמְרֵם = תי-שמר-הם
where תי is YHWH (certainly) and where הֵם are the אביונים of verse 6 (apparently). But then comes the alternate form
תִּצְּרֶנּוּ = תי-צר-אֶנּוּ
where the "suffix" נּוּ NU (with a dagesh in the nun!) is NOT אנוּ, 'we', but 'them'.
See also Ps. 41:3-4(2-3)
יהוה יִשְׁמְרֵהוּ וִיחַיֵּהוּ וְאֻשַּׁר בָּאָרֶץ וְאַל תִּתְּנֵהוּ בְּנֶפֶשׁ אֹיְבָיו יהוה יִסְעָדֶנּוּ עַל עֶרֶשׂ דְּוָי
KJV: "The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness."
יִשְׁמְרֵהוּ = היא-שמר-הוּא
יִסְעָדֶנּוּ = היא-סעד-אֶנ-הוּא
וְאֻשַּׁר = וא-הוּא-שר

In Josh. 24:17 we find
וַיִּשְׁמְרֵנוּ = בא-היא-שמר-אַנוּ (where the tsere seems to be a patax in disguise.)
Also
הָלַכְנוּ = הלך-אנוּ
Also
עָבַרְנוּ = עבר-אנוּ
Also
לְעֵינֵינוּ = ל-עיני-אנוּ

Isaac Fried, Boston University