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]
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--
Pere Porta
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