Thursday, July 19, 2018

21st Century Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 2:7-8, from (?)

Genesis 2:7-8
 
ז וַיִּ֩יצֶר֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהִ֜ים אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֗ם עָפָר֙ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה וַיִּפַּ֥ח בְּאַפָּ֖יו נִשְׁמַ֣ת חַיִּ֑ים וַיְהִ֥י הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְנֶ֥פֶשׁ חַיָּֽה:
ח וַיִּטַּ֞ע יְהוָֹ֧ה אֱלֹהִ֛ים גַּ֥ן־בְּעֵ֖דֶן מִקֶּ֑דֶם וַיָּ֣שֶׂם שָׁ֔ם אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר יָצָֽר:
 
Translation:     **** Gd formed the man dust, from the earth, He breathed into his nose the soul of life; he must have become a living soul.
**** Gd planted a garden in Eden toward the east; He placed there the man whom He had formed.
 
Vocabulary in this lesson:
וַיִּיצֶר
He formed
עָפָר
dust
מִן
From – (?)
וַיִּפַּח
He breathed
יִּטַּע
plant
גַּן
garden
מִקֶּדֶם
To the east
קֶּדֶם
east
יָּשֶׂם
Placed, positioned
שָׁם
there
יָצָר
Had formed
 
Mi (miqedem) has several meanings, especially “toward” and “from”. In some places it is debatable which it means. It can also mean “beyond,” “than”, and in a few cases “because of”, “out of”, “as a result of”.
 
When mi takes an object suffix, things happen. You saw this in the creation story when Gd said “the man has become like one of us…”
 
Singular
Plural
Person/gender
מִמֶּנִּי
מִמֶּנּוּ
First
מִמְּךָ, מִמֶּךָּ
מִכֶּם
Second/masculine
מִמֵּךְ
 
Second/feminine
מִמֶּנּוּ
מֵהֶם
Third/masculine
מִמֶּנָּה
מֵהֵן
Third/feminine
 
Notice the dagesh in the second mem. What is going on?
 
Well, there’s a full-up version of this preposition, min. It’s in verse 7.
                                                                                       
For some reason, a mem has to go between that and the suffix. We’ll see that again with another preposition.
 
The final nun of min changes to “m” for euphony, then the two mems contract and one takes dagesh.
 
When the suffix requires nun before it, apparently there is also a nun intervening. Apparently in some forms, the suffix is understood to carry a nun at the front, the two contract, and the one that remains gets dagesh. The second person doesn’t have this restriction.
 
Finally, notice that only the feminine singular 2nd person has tseire under the middle mem. All the others have segol. Segol is a short vowel. I’m not sure what’s going on here.
 
The missing form is not attested in Tannakh but obviously it would be miken by analogy with all the verbs in 2nd feminine plural. Take a look back and you’ll see it.

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