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 2^nd 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 2^nd feminine plural. Take a look back and you’ll see it.