WTM Search Query: Articular noun followed by anarthrous adjective and vice versa

[dmiller]

Hello,

I could use some help with a search query. I am trying to find all occurrences in the Hebrew Bible of (1) an articular noun followed by an anarthrous adjective and (2) an anarthrous adjective followed by an articular noun.

My query for (1) is as follows: '*@a* *@n* *@Pa

Searching for .*@Pa brings up all occurrences of the article but my query above results in this error message: "The following word or form cannot be found in the current search version: *@Pa."

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks for your help!

David M. Miller
Briercrest College

[Mark Eddy]

Just add an asterisk to *@Pa*, and the search runs fine.
Mark Eddy

[ISalzman]

Hello,

I could use some help with a search query. I am trying to find all occurrences in the Hebrew Bible of (1) an articular noun followed by an anarthrous adjective and (2) an anarthrous adjective followed by an articular noun.

My query for (1) is as follows: '*@a* *@n* *@Pa

Searching for .*@Pa brings up all occurrences of the article but my query above results in this error message: "The following word or form cannot be found in the current search version: *@Pa."

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks for your help!

David M. Miller
Briercrest College

That is a very interesting search. If you don't mind my curiosity, I wondered what motivated this search. I ran it with Mark's search string, which returned 188 verses for me. I looked at a few of them. Don't have time now to go through all the hits, but I wondered if you wouldn't mind divulging what you were looking for specifically.

Also, is Briercrest College in Toronto?

Thanks,

Irving

[dmiller]

That is a very interesting search. If you don't mind my curiosity, I wondered what motivated this search. I ran it with Mark's search string, which returned 188 verses for me. I looked at a few of them. Don't have time now to go through all the hits, but I wondered if you wouldn't mind divulging what you were looking for specifically.

Also, is Briercrest College in Toronto?

Thanks,

Irving

Hi Irving,

Thanks for your questions. I was trying to determine standard word order for predicate adjectival constructions in Hebrew in order to decide whether or not an adjective is in focus when it comes first in a clause. (For a sampling of the debate see Joüon-Muraoka §154fa; Arnold & Choi 2.5.2; Buth, "Word Order in the Verbless Clause" 1999, 103.) My working conclusion, FWIW, is that when predicate adjectives precede a pronominal subj. they are slightly emphatic in that they draw attention to the quality even though it is more common for predicate adjectives to come first.

Briercrest College is in Saskatchewan (www.briercrest.ca)

David M. Miller
https://sites.google.com/site/gervatoshav

[ISalzman]

Hey David,

Thanks so much for the reply. I thought I had heard of Briercrest. The guy who led me to the Messiah is a graduate of Peace River Bible Institute (Sexsmith, Alberta) who did his seminary work at Providence (Wpg, Manitoba). And your website is great. I am very familiar with the phrase 'Ger vetoshav.' I spent 15 years of my life as a torah reader in a former life. (A figure of speech; I categorically reject reincarnation!) Years ago, I had about 95% of the Pentateuch committed to memory. Alas, aging is not too very kind to memory. But I absolutely love the Torah. Blessings to you at Briercrest. (Are you closer to Regina or Saskatoon?)

Irving