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5. In these forms, which are very nearly related to each other, the second vowel is generally immutable, the first not so: as, in his fence; thy (fem.) fences ;

her fences; pl. fem. ni fences. This being known, the vowels proper for construction, &c., are also known. In a few instances we have a inserted: as,

escape, which פְּלֵיטָה ; tranquillity שְׁלֵיו ; littleness זְעֵיר

seems to account for the attendant vowel's being immutable; and also to suggest, that some affinity exists between this and the next form.

6. The signification peculiar to these forms, is that of habit, custom, passion, whence they have by some been termed participles. Those of the third are found in words signifying feeling, perception, or the like, and are often used as roots of verbs having this sense: as, willing; p rejoicing, &c.

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7. In all these cases the and inserted are immutable, the other vowel is not: the plurals, &c. are, therefore, formed accordingly. In some instances the or will be

omitted, and their places supplied by () or (-) respectively; in all which these vowels will remain immutable as before, for the purpose of preserving the original form of the word: as, masc. fem. darkness. So fem. for advice (Art. 76.); and a visitation, being visited, &c.

S. Forms V. and VI. are very nearly allied to the foregoing both in form and signification; and from these, the forms VII. and VIII. scarcely present a shade of difference.* Simonis indeed makes a difference, but it is perhaps only an imaginary one. To the two last he ascribes the sense of past time, as if the action, of which this form is usually said to present the object, took place at some distant period; but, innumerable instances may be pointed out, in which it has a present or a future signification according to the context. The truth seems to be, that each of them implies habit, custom, &c., of such action, &c., as the root may signify; but, that in some roots, the one form is found to prevail, in others, the other.

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and יָלְוּד ; chosen בָּחִיר and בָּחוּר ; bound, a captive אָסִיר and אָסוּר So •

born, a son; and anointed Messiah: and in a great number of cases, in which the textual reading has the one form, the marginal reading will have the other.

9. In these forms the i Khōlém only is immutable. We shall have therefore in the plural, &c. Di masc.

fem., which will גְדוֹלוֹת .masc גְדוֹלִים fem. and פּוֹקְדוֹת

also be the forms proper for the state of construction, and for the pronominal affixes.

10. Of these forms a few nouns will be found abstract in signification. Tpi, with its feminine, is generally used as an agent. Sometimes the feminine occurs as, fructifera: (Art. 136. 5.).

11. It may be taken as a general rule, that whenever a or, or one of their equivalents () or (-), happens to be found in one of this class of primitive words, that vowel will remain unchanged under all circumstances. The reason is these vowels principally constitute these forms.

LECTURE VII.

OF THE AUGMENTED HEBREW NOUNS.

154. Having considered the Primitive nouns of both kinds, we now proceed to the Augmented ones, which may be classed under four heads. I. Those found to double any letter or syllable, which hence may be termed reduplicated. II. Those which are augmented by one or more of the letters contained in the technical word ' I have believed, reduplicating, or not, at the same time, any of their letters or syllables. III. Nouns compounded of two or more others, each of which may be otherwise augmented, or not: and, IV. Foreign words.

2. It is evident that whenever any addition is made to a word, some modification will be made in its sense. The great difficulty consists, however, in determining the law by which this process of augmentation is carried on, and thence ascertaining, what is the precise force of every form thus modified: and, it must be confessed, that although a considerable number of instances occur in most languages, in which we can clearly perceive a peculiar force attendant on certain specific forms; yet, there are others, in which no such power is discoverable; others again, in which one form is used for another, and even different forms linked together in the same phrase, or corresponding to one another in the parallel parts of the same context. To this may be added the figures of speech, which exercise a very considerable influence on the significations of words, and conspire very much to disconcert both the Learner and the Learned in enquiries of this nature. Still we must not throw away all the helps we have, merely because they will not conduct us to absolute knowledge in every case: besides, further enquiry may throw much new, and even sufficient, light on this subject. We shall, therefore, follow the course just marked out, in detailing the forms of augmented

nouns.

3. Writers on this subject seem generally to agree in the following principles, viz. That, by augmentation will be expressed either intensity, frequency, duration, defect, or the like, of that action, passion, habit, &c. which is contained in the signification afforded by the primitive word:-that, in some instances, a word which is intransitive, will, by adding a letter, become transitive: as in the English words, rise and raise, which in Hebrew will be given in (for 1), and ori. A similar effect is produced in Hebrew by prefixing a letter: as, which will also signify raise, the root being rise. In many cases, however, as already remarked, the real force of the augment is not perceptible; and in these, we must be content to abide by usage. As we proceed, however, it is my intention to offer some conjectures on the origin of the different augments; and, should I not succeed in producing conviction, I shall certainly gain my point in another respect, namely, in impressing upon the Learner's mind, the different forms with which he will meet. Besides, by attempting to ascertain what these additional syllables really are, and what they mean, some light may be thrown on the manner in which language in

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general has been constructed. It is my belief, that language has
grown up, in a great measure, out of necessity; and, that words
which now exceed their primitive length, must have been made so
by the addition of others qualifying or otherwise modifying their
significations, as circumstances should require. In process of time,
many
of these additional words may have become attached to others,
and so abbreviated as greatly to obscure their original forms and
significations: e. g. The English word attempting, seems to be com-
pounded of at, (ad, whatever that word was originally) tempt, and
ing. The last component part is probably the same with the Latin
Ens, or Greek av, so that each part of the word might originally
have stood singly, but is now so compounded as to stand for one.
In such words as incomprehensibility, transubstantiation, &c., I
suppose we have not fewer than five or six primitive words con-
founded together in one.

4. The Greek and Latin prepositions, with which so many words are compounded, were perhaps at first significant words: and, it strikes me as most probable, that their terminations of case and gender, no less than the variations found to prevail in the conjugations of their verbs, were all, at some time, significant words, which have been so attached to the root, as to supply the sense which these conjugations, &c. now bear. It may, indeed, be impossible now to ascertain exactly what they were; still the attempt to do so, cannot but be attended with beneficial results.— To proceed, the following tables will exhibit the forms with some examples of the first class of these nouns.

Of Reduplicated Words, Intensitive, or otherwise modified in

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5. To this form may be referred all those nouns, which, on account of having aor for their middle radical letter, and therefore not convenient for reduplication (Art. 75.), double the last:

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