A Further Consideration of D. W. Thomas's Theories About Yāda

Abstract

The late D. Winton Thomas published a number of articles on the Hebrew verb yddac, as well as on cognate nouns, and argued that it does not always mean know or the like. He claimed to have discovered a homonymous root related to the Arabic verb waduCa, become still, quiet, at rest. He suggested that, for example, the qal in Hebrew sometimes means have rest, be still, be quiet (e.g. Isa. xv 4; Ps. xxxv 15; Job ix 5, xx 20; Prov. v 6), the hiphcil make quiet, submissive (e.g. Judg. viii 16), humiliate (e.g. Ecclus vii 20), and punish (e.g. Gen. xviii 21), and the niph al be brought to submission (e.g. Judg. xvi 9); further, the qal itself can mean be humiliated (e.g. Hosea ix 7). He also claimed to find support for his theory in the ancient versions and in the writings of medieval and later Jewish commentators and lexicographers. Although he was not aware of the fact when he put forward his theory, Thomas had been anticipated by J. J. Reiske, Coniecturae in lobum et Proverbia Salomonis (Leipzig, 1779), who compared the Arabic and translated lo6-yddac in Job xx 20 as Non erit quietus, and tedac in Job xxxvii 15 as quietus manes, and suggested humiliabitur as a possible rendering of yiwwddeac in Prov. x 9. In 1970 I discussed Thomas's theory in an article (which he was able to read in typescript shortly before his death on 12 June of that year), which listed his relevant publications and the Hebrew