Chapter 4a – Hebrew Nouns
Chapter 4a – Hebrew Nouns Introduction With regard to gender, Hebrew nouns are either masculine or feminine, though a few nouns are both masculine and feminine. With regard to a noun’s number, it may be either singular, indicating one; plural, indicating more than one; or dual, indicating only two. א Basics of Biblical Hebrew © Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt Chapter 4b – Hebrew Nouns Inflectional Endings Endings on Masculine and Feminine Nouns Masculine Singular Plural Dual סוּס סוּסִים יִם.ַסוּס horse horses two horses Feminine תּוֹרָה תּוֹרוֹת יִם.ַתּוֹרָ ת law laws two laws Summary of Noun Endings Masculine Singular Plural Dual א endingless בִים יִם.ַב Basics of Biblical Hebrew © Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt Feminine בָה/בַת/בֶת וֹת יִם.ַ ָרת/יִם.ַב Chapter 4c – Hebrew Nouns Examples of Singular, Plural and Dual Nouns Masculine Singular (ms) Masculine Plural (mp) Feminine Singular (fs) Feminine Plural (fp) Masc/Fem Dual (md/fd) סוּס סוּסִים מַלְכָּה מְלָכוֹת יִם.ַיוֹמ לְֶך.ֶמ מְלָכִים תּוֹרָ ה יִם תּוֹרוֹת.ַתּוֹרָ ת דָּבָר ְדּבָרִ ים חוֹמָה חוֹמוֹת יִם.ַרגְ ַל יֶ>לֶד יְלָדִים בַּת בָּנוֹת יִם.ַיָד יוֹם יָמִים שֶׁת.ְקשָׁתוֹת ֶק עֵינַ>יִם א Basics of Biblical Hebrew © Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt Chapter 4d – Hebrew Nouns Lexical Form When looking up a noun in the lexicon, you must search for its lexical form. The lexical form for any noun is the singular form. For example, the lexical form of סוּסִים (mp) is סוּס, the masculine singular form. Likewise, the lexical form of ( תּוֹרוֹתfp) is תּוָֹרה, the feminine singular form. א Basics of Biblical Hebrew © Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt Chapter 4e – Hebrew Nouns Endingless Feminine Nouns All masculine singular nouns are endingless but not all endingless nouns are masculine singular. In a number of instances, feminine singular nouns are also endingless. The 10 most common endingless feminine singular nouns in the Hebrew Bible are listed below. ֶֶרץ.א יָד עִיר נֶ>פֶשׁ ֶרב.ֶח ֶבֶן.א גֶל.ֶר אֵם כַּף זֶן.ֹא א land, earth, ground (2,505) hand (1,627) city, town (1,088) soul, life, person (757) sword (413) stone (276) foot (251) mother (220) hand, palm, sole of the foot (195) ear (188) Basics of Biblical Hebrew © Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt Chapter 4f – Hebrew Nouns Exceptions to Normal Pluralization In the process of pluralizing nouns, some singular nouns of one gender take the plural ending of the other gender. Note, however, that the masculine nouns with feminine plural endings are still masculine in gender and the feminine nouns with masculine plural endings are still feminine in gender. אָב שֵׁם שָׁנָה אִשָּׁה א (ms) father ➣ (ms) name ➣ (fs) year ➣ (fs) woman ➣ Basics of Biblical Hebrew © Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt אָבוֹת שֵׁמוֹת שָׁנִים נָשִׁים (mp) fathers (mp) names (fp) years (fp) women Chapter 4g – Hebrew Nouns Special Dual Nouns There are three special Hebrew words that are always dual in form but normally singular in translation. יִם.ַשָׁמ heaven, heavens יִם.מִצְַר Egypt יִם.ַמ water א Basics of Biblical Hebrew © Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt Chapter 4h – Hebrew Nouns Irregular Stem Change Some Hebrew nouns will alter their (consonantal) stem when the plural endings are added. Singular יוֹם אִישׁ אִשָּׁה א Plural day ➣ man ➣ woman ➣ Basics of Biblical Hebrew © Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt יָמִים אֲנָשִׁים נָשִׁים days men women Chapter 4i – Hebrew Nouns Defective Spelling of וֹת The feminine plural ending וֹתmay be spelled ( ֹתwith Holem rather than Holem Waw). The shorter spelling is called “defective spelling” and the longer spelling is called “full spelling.” Singular עֵדָהcongregation מִשְׁפָּחָהfamily חֻקָּהstatute א Basics of Biblical Hebrew © Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt Plural ➣ ➣ ➣ עֵדוֹתor עֵדֹת מִשְׁפָּחוֹתor מִשְׁפָּחֹת חֻקּוֹתor חֻקֹּת Chapter 4j – Hebrew Nouns Summary of Exceptions 1. Endingless Feminine Nouns. Not all endingless nouns are masculine singular. In a few instances, feminine singular nouns are also endingless as in ֶרץ.ֶ( אland), ( עִירcity) and בֶן.ֶ( אstone). 2. Exception to Normal Pluralization. Some singular nouns of one gender take the plural ending of the other gender. For example, the masculine singular noun ( אָבfather) takes the feminine plural ending וֹתas in אָבוֹת. 3. Special Dual Nouns. There are three special Hebrew words that are always dual in form but normally singular in translation: יִם.ַ( שָׁמheaven, heavens), יִם.( מִצְַרEgypt) and יִם.ַמ (water). 4. Irregular Stem Change. Some Hebrew nouns will alter their actual (consonantal) stem when they add their plural endings. For example, the plural of ( יוֹםday) is ( יָמִיםdays), the plural of ( אִישׁman) is ( אֲנָשִׁיםmen) and the plural of ( אִשָּׁהwoman) is ( נָשִׁיםwomen). 5. Defective Spelling of וֹת. Occasionally, the feminine plural ending וֹתwill be spelled ( ֹתwith Holem rather than Holem Waw). For example, the plural of ( עֵדָהcongregation) may appear either as עֵדוֹתor עֵֹדת. The shorter spelling is called “defective spelling” and the longer spelling is called “full spelling.” א Basics of Biblical Hebrew © Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt Chapter 4k – Hebrew Nouns Patterns of Noun Pluralization 1. Pluralization with No Change Some nouns are pluralized simply with the addition of the masculine or feminine plural ending. Nouns of this type may be monosyllabic with an unchangeable long vowel. They may also be composed of two syllables with Shewa or Hateph Pathach in the first syllable and an unchangeable long vowel in the second syllable. שִׁיר אוֹת חֲלוֹם ְרחוֹב א song ➣ sign ➣ dream ➣ street ➣ Basics of Biblical Hebrew © Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt שִׁיִרים אוֹתוֹת חֲלוֹמוֹת ְרחוֹבוֹת songs signs dreams streets Chapter 4l – Hebrew Nouns Patterns of Noun Pluralization 2. Pluralization with Propretonic Reduction Two-syllable nouns accented on the final syllable and having either Qamets or Tsere in the first or pretonic syllable experience what is called “propretonic reduction” with the addition of plural endings. With the addition of the plural ending, Qamets or Tsere is placed in an open, propretonic syllable. In an open, propretonic syllable, the Qamets or the Tsere will reduce to Shewa and this is called propretonic reduction. דָּבָר לֵבָב עָנָן חָצֵר א word ➣ heart ➣ cloud ➣ courtyard ➣ Basics of Biblical Hebrew © Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt דְּבִָרים לְבָבוֹת עֲנָנִים חֲצֵרוֹת words hearts clouds courtyards Chapter 4m – Hebrew Nouns Patterns of Noun Pluralization 3. Pluralization of Segholate Nouns Two-syllable nouns accented on the first syllable (penultima) are classified as Segholate nouns. They are called Segholate nouns because they typically have two Seghol vowels as in ֶלְֶך.( מking). Other vowel patterns also appear in this class, usually with at least one Seghol vowel ֵ (book), קֶר.( ֹבּmorning) and ( ז>ֶַרעseed). Even as in פֶר.ס though not spelled with a Seghol, the nouns ַעַל.( בּlord) and ( נַ> עַרyoung man) are also Segholate nouns because they are accented on the first syllable. While the vowel pattern of Segholate nouns will vary in the singular, they will always have the same vowel pattern in the plural. לְֶך.ֶמ פֶר.ֵס נֶ>פֶשׁ ֶֶרב.ח א king ➣ book ➣ life ➣ sword ➣ Basics of Biblical Hebrew © Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt מְלָכִים סְפִָרים נְפָשׁוֹת חֲרָבוֹת kings books lives swords Chapter 4n – Hebrew Nouns Patterns of Noun Pluralization 4. Pluralization of Geminate Nouns Most Geminate nouns have only two consonants in the singular as in ( עַםpeople). Actually, Geminate nouns originally had three consonants. For example, the Hebrew word for “people” ( )עַםwas originally spelled עמם. When Geminate nouns are pluralized, the consonant that originally appeared twice will now be written once with Daghesh Forte. The Daghesh Forte represents the lost Geminate consonant. עַם חֹק חֵץ א people ➣ statute ➣ arrow ➣ Basics of Biblical Hebrew © Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt עַ ּמִים חֻקִּים חִצִּים peoples statutes arrows Chapter 4o – Hebrew Nouns Patterns of Noun Pluralization 5. Irregular Pluralization A number of nouns are irregular and unpredictable in their pluralization. Below are some of the most common examples. בֵּן אִישׁ אִשָּׁה עִיר אָב יִת.ַבּ בַּת יוֹם א son ➣ man ➣ woman ➣ city ➣ father ➣ house ➣ daughter ➣ day ➣ Basics of Biblical Hebrew © Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt בָּנִים אֲנָשִׁים נָשִׁים עִָרים אָבוֹת תִּים,בּ בָּנוֹת יָמִים sons men women cities fathers houses daughters days Chapter 4p – Hebrew Nouns Patterns of Noun Pluralization: Summary 1. Pluralization with No Change שִׁירsong חֲלוֹםdream ➣ ➣ שִׁיִרים חֲלוֹמוֹת songs dreams 2. Pluralization with Propretonic Reduction דָּבָר עָנָן word ➣ cloud ➣ דְּבִָרים עֲנָנִים words clouds 3. Pluralization of Segholate Nouns לְֶך.ֶמ פֶר.ֵס king ➣ book ➣ מְלָכִים סְפִָרים kings books 4. Pluralization of Geminate Nouns עַם חֹק people ➣ statute ➣ עַ ּמִים חֻקִּים peoples statutes 5. Irregular Pluralization בֵּןson אִישׁman א Basics of Biblical Hebrew © Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt ➣ ➣ בָּנִים אֲנָשִׁים sons men Chapter 4q – Hebrew Nouns Advanced Information: Rules of Shewa Rule 1 Hebrew will not allow two contiguous (side-by-side) Vocal Shewas at the beginning of a word. In such a circumstance, the first Vocal Shewa becomes Hireq. לְנְבִיאִים ➣ לִנְבִיאִים Rule 2 Vocal Shewa cannot precede a guttural consonant with a reduced (Hateph) vowel. In such a circumstance, the first syllable takes the corresponding short vowel of the reduced vowel. בְּחֲלוֹם א Basics of Biblical Hebrew © Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt ➣ בַּחֲלוֹם
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