Why do you say 'reused', Karl? it's a fundamental part of the the yiqtol form. 
In Arabic there are subjunctive and indicative forms, yaqtala as against the 
yaqtalu, and I think this probably held in early Canaanite. But these two forms 
are conjoined in Hebrew due to loss of final vowels. So it's an inherent 
function.

John Leake

----------------------------------
ان صاحب حياة هانئة لا يدونها انما يحياها
He who has a comfortable life doesn't write about it - he lives it
---------------------------------- 

On 29 May 2013, at 12:50, K Randolph <[email protected]> wrote:

> When a language has a limited number of forms, sometimes a form is reused to 
> indicate a different function than its primary function. An example in 
> English is the plural “were” reused to indicate the optative mood, e.g. “If I 
> were …” and “Were he …”.
> 
> I have found that the Yiqtol is reused often to indicate the subjunctive 
> modal use, also to express intent, possibility, and other (modal?) uses.
_______________________________________________
b-hebrew mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew

Reply via email to