Studies in Northwest Semitic

Abstract

Studies in Northwest Semitic, by Robert Althann. BibOr 45. Rome: Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 1997. Pp. xii + 205. L 36,000/$26.00 (paper). The scope of this book is narrower than its title suggests. Its eight chapters undertake, after a three-page introduction, studies in Biblical Hebrew (BH) and an extended discussion of job 3, followed by three more pages of conclusions. Only one Northwest Semitic language is studied, although reference is made to Ugaritic (at least once in any pages) and Phoenician (eight citations); three Aramaic words are mentioned, and two Arabic cognates adduced. One Moabite passage is cited, but Ammonite and Edomite are absent, and I found no reference to the Deir cAlla Plaster Texts. Readers anticipating new interpretations of Northwest Semitic epigraphic texts will be disappointed, although biblical scholars concerned with the grammatical interpretation of the MT will find much to consider. Althann has selected for examination five different types of grammatical phenomena for which Mitchell Dahood proposed new explanations, and a longer poetic passage (job 3) in which Dahood claimed to find a number of grammatical phenomena not included in standard Hebrew grammars (p. 155). The book pays homage to a distinguished and controversial teacher, marking fifteen years since Dahood's death (2 March 1982). Some of the book's limitations stem its origin. The grammatical topics occupy chapters 2-6. Chapter 2 concerns prepositions. After distinguishing the meaning of a preposition its translation equivalent, Althann examines parallel passages in which b is replaced with mn or vice versa (Ps 18:14, 16//2 Sam 22:14, 16), ketib-qere' variations of the same type (Josh 3:16; 24:15; 22:7), and variation between l and mn in verb phrases (Ps 84:12; Prov 3:27; Gen 16:2; 2 Kgs 4:24). An example of 'l from (Ps 81:6) is bolstered with parallels Ugaritic, Phoenician, and Moabite (KTU 1. 107:32-33, 34-35, 37-38; KAI 1.2; 181.14). All of this, Althann summarizes, would seem to imply a certain fluctuation in the meaning of these (p. 16 [emphasis original]). Dahood's interpretations of prepositions differ those of most other critics, not in theory but in application (p. 17). Several pages devoted to E. Jenni's book-length study of Hebrew prepositions produce this truism: Careful theoretical work is indispensable for an ordered to the subject of prepositions in the Northwest Semitic dialects (p. 25). But Althann ultimately pleads for the pragmatic approach that resolves individual cases by appeal to cognate languages. Theory-building, to paraphrase Thomas Kuhn, should not interfere with puzzle-- solving. Chapter 3 takes up verb morphology. Is there a t-prefix third-person masculine singular verb form in Biblical Hebrew? If it exists, what is its frequency and distribution? These questions implicitly guide the discussion. There is insufficient evidence, concludes Althann, to warrant postulation of a third masculine singular taqtul (pp. 58-59, 155), but several passages remain inexplicable according to known Hebrew grammar and require special explanations: Isa 57:3; Ezek 12:25; job 20:9. …