Jim, My warm congratulations for your study on words with suffix -WN.
Me also, I did a study on this word type. First, we should carefully distinguish those that end in -WN (= on) from those that end in WN (= un). You included in your list, for instance, adjective/noun XNWN, (= xanun) gracious (Ex 22:26) (Remark: Not Ex 22:27) Those ending in -WN (= on) are mainly nouns while those ending in -WN (= un) are adjectives. Samples: -WN (= on): 1. alon, an oak (Hos 4:13) 2. xalon, window (Gn 26:8) 3. rimon, pomegranate (Joel 1:12) 4. xazon, ecstatic vision (Hos 12:11) and many others as you list them. -WN (= un): 1. xannun, gracious (Ex 22;26) --> medial nun with dagesh. Nouns in -WN (= on) have some mystery: they show a range of meanings, from the most immediate: -aton, female donkey (Nm 22:23) -aron, ark (2Ch 6:11) -adon, lord (Ps 12:5) to the most abstract: -sason, joy, gladness (Ps 45:8) -qalon, ignominy (Jb 10:15) -zadon, insolence (Jr 50:31) -gaon, exaltation (Jb 40:10) -zikaron, remembrance (Ex 17:14) -bitaxon, security, trust (Ecc 9:4) Of course, we find some exceptions: some that end in -WN (= on) are adjectives and not nouns: rishon, first (Ex 12:2), axaron, last (Ps 78:4) Kind regards Pere Porta 2010/11/15 <[email protected]> > > In this thread, I would like to explore the vav nun suffix. There are > three types of words or names that have a vav nun suffix: (i) common > words, > (ii) personal names, and (iii) geographical place names. In this post, we > will > focus solely on common words [before moving on to names in a later post]. > > By my count, over 40% of the common words in the Hebrew Bible that have a > vav nun suffix are in the Patriarchal narratives! [All the details, for > anyone who may be interested, are set forth in the long footnote at the end > of > this post.] > > Is this a plene spelling issue? That’s not likely. The old parts of the > Bible, such as the Patriarchal narratives, have less plene spelling [which > among other things adds in interior vavs] than later parts of the Bible. > Then > why do so many common words with a vav nun suffix appear in the Patriarchal > narratives? Something seems amiss here. Gordon Wenham, who is perhaps the > leading scholarly commentator on Genesis, sees part of the Patriarchal > narratives as having existed in written form, in some fashion, as early as > the > 13th century BCE, and no later than the 10th century BCE. “Genesis 1-15” > (1987), at p. xliv. But prior to the 9th century BCE, no interior vowels > were > recorded in west Semitic writing [except in Ugaritic]. So then how account > for the plethora of vav nun suffixes in the Patriarchal narratives? Is it > sensible to think that a 1st millennium BCE editor put in each and every > one > of those interior vavs? Why would that have been done more extensively > than anywhere else in the Bible? If this is not a plene spelling issue > [and I > myself don’t think plene spelling has much to do with it], then why are > there so many interior vavs in the Patriarchal narratives? It would make > no > sense for a 1st millennium BCE editor to stud the Patriarchal narratives > with > common words with vav nun suffixes. That simply cannot be the explanation, > can it? Moreover, in a later post we can see the same phenomenon with > personal names, where it would make even less sense for a later editor to > be > putting in interior vavs. This seems to be a great Biblical linguistic > mystery. > Where are all those interior vavs coming from, in the form of all these > common words with vav nun suffixes, in the truly ancient Patriarchal > narratives? > > Jim Stinehart > Evanston, Illinois > > Footnote: For anyone who may be interested in the details, here’s the > breakdown of all the vav nun common words in the Bible. [Note: Limited to > words that appear at least 10 times in the Hebrew Bible. Includes all > words > ending in -WN, even in those cases where the vav may be a part of the root > of > the word, rather than being part of a suffix. Words ending in -WN that the > lexicons say are in the Patriarchal narratives are listed there, even in > the > few cases where, as noted below, the actual form in the Patriarchal > narratives does not show an express vav.] > > A. Patriarchal Narratives: Common Words with Vav Nun Suffix > > 1. )LYWN at Genesis 14: 18 > 2. )LWN at Genesis 12: 6 and 18:1 [also a personal name at Genesis 46: > 14] > 3. XLWN at Genesis 26: 8 [as to which it is said: “derivation unknown”] > 4. )DWN at Genesis 45: 8 > 5. )WN [meaning “sorrow”, in the form of the name BN-)WNY at Genesis 35: > 18] > 6. )WN [meaning “strength”, in the form of )WNY at Genesis 49: 3] > 7. )XRWN [as at Exodus 4: 8, though at Genesis 33: 2 in the plural as > )XRNYM, so this is ambiguous as to the interior vav] > 8. )RWN at Genesis 50: 26 > 9. )TWN [as at Numbers 22: 23 may in effect be in the Patriarchal > narratives, although the actual forms there are )TNW at Genesis 49: 11 and > )TNT at > Genesis 12: 16, so the presence of the interior vav is ambiguous] > 10. HMWN at Genesis 17: 4 > 11. YGWN at Genesis 42: 38 > 12. LWN at Genesis 24: 25 > 13. (WN = “iniquity” at Genesis 15: 16 [The vav-nun ending here may not > be a suffix; root is viewed as being (WH, and the vav is viewed as being a > consonant.] > 14. CGWN [but at Genesis 13: 14 in the form of CGNH, without an express > interior vav; cf. CGWN at Exodus 26: 20] > 15. R)$WN, meaning “first”, at Genesis 25: 25 > 16. RCWN [but in the form of RCNYM at Genesis 49: 6, without an express > vav; cf. RCWN at Exodus 28: 38] > 17. )SWN, meaning “mischief”, at Genesis 42: 38 [derivation “unknown”] > > B. Rest of Bible: Common Words with Vav Nun Suffix That Do Not Appear in > Patriarchal Narratives > > 1. RMWN = pomegranate > 2. )RMWN =castle > 3. )BYWN = poor, needy > 4. G)WN = exaltation [Ezekiel 16: 56] > 5. HWN = riches [Ezekiel 27: 27] > 6. ZDWN = arrogance [Deuteronomy 17: 12] > 7. ZKRWN = memorial [Exodus 12: 14] > 8. XZWN = ecstatic vision [I Samuel 3: 1] > 9. XYCWN = outer [I Kings 6: 29] > 10. XNWN = gracious [Exodus 22: 27] > 11. XRWN = wrath [Numbers 25: 4] > 12. Y$YMWN = desert, wilderness [Psalms 78: 40] > 13. YTLWN = profit [Ecclesiastes 1: 3] > 14. L$WN = tongues [Genesis 10: 20] > 15. MKWN = fixed place, foundation [Exodus 15: 17] > 16. M(WN = dwelling [Deuteronomy 26: 15] > 17. ($RWN = tenth part [Exodus 29: 40] > 18. QLWN = shame [Job 10: 15] > 19. %%WN = joy [Isaiah 12: 3] > 20. $)WN = pomp [Isaiah 5: 14] > 21. $BTWN = rest, Sabbath [Exodus 16: 23] > 22. TXNWN = supplication [Job 41: 3] > 23. TXTWN = lower [Joshua 16: 3] > 24. TYKWN = middle [Judges 7: 19] > _______________________________________________ > b-hebrew mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew > -- Pere Porta _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
