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the whole of the כָּל־מְלָאכָה לֹא יֵעָשֶׂה,the subject: as

work (it) SHALL not BE DONE, Exod. xii. 16.

See also Gen. v. 23. 31, Is. lxiv. 10, Nah. iii. 7, &c. And particularly when the predicate stands first in the order: as,

E the envy of Ephraim (it) SHALL DEPART, Isa. xi. 13.

Of the Concordance of the Nominative with its Verb.

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216. The Concordance of a real nominative with its verb, is that of a subject with its predicate. By a real nominative we mean, the pronoun which is always inherent in the verb when in the state of conjugation (See Art. 188.). What, therefore, is usually taken for the nominative is, in fact, either a noun or a pronoun put in apposition with the nominative; and, consequently, as before, agreeing either logically or formally with it, or with the predicate. Considered, therefore, in this point of view, all the cases of apparent discrepancy which can happen under this head, may be resolved into one or other of the preceding ones: e. g. Dvi 77 he (i. e.) GOD, created, Gen. i. 1.

Here the word is manifestly a plural form; but, as the Being designated by this word is every where affirmed to be one, the agreement between the pronoun inherent in the verb and this word is logical, not formal. The same may be said of he says (i. e.) God; and of many other similar con

structions.

2. Examples of apparent discrepancy in gender and number: 1st, en... Pin it (masc.) became strong (i. e.) the war, (fem.) 2 Kings iii. 26; 2d, DW 837 he hath brought (i. e.) thy handmaid, 1 Sam. xxv. 27; he may be (i. e.) the young woman, a virgin, Deut. xxii. 23; 4th, what they (masc.) will be (i. e.) his dreams, Gen. xxvii. 20.

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3. With the apparent nominative preceding: 5th,

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Dy knowledge... it, or he, is pleasant, Prov. ii. 10; 6th, (as to) her cities, it, or he, has ascended, Jer. xlviii. 15; 7th, Thy nivi? (as to) the arms of the orphans, it is broken, Job xxii. 9.

4. The first four of these examples seem to involve an Epanorthosis, a figure frequently used in the Arabic, by which something enounced in a general manner, is afterwards restricted by the addition

of other words. Of this the Arabs count four sorts, 1, J

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الكل
د من

i. e. the change of the whole for the whole, or, when any thing is enounced by one or more words, another enunciation is added

to the same effect but in a different point of view; as,

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جَاءَنِي

ހހ ވ oހޅ

بدل البعض

من

أخوك

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القوم بعضهم the change of a part for the whole ; as الكل جاني

the people came to me (I mean) some of them; 3, Jlaïül! Jaş

the change of the contained for the container, or, vice versá; as,

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.* mean) his 4,

بدل الغلط 4 ; Zaid was stripped (I mean is garment سلب زيد ثوبه

I passed by a dog (I مررت بكلب فرس

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the change of error; as,
mean) a horse. See M. de Sacy's Gram. Arab., vol. ii. pp. 225. 394:
theby Moolla Jami, pp. r-ro. Glass. edit. Dathe,
on the Epanorthosis, pp. 1350—2.

In the first example, then, it is generally enounced that some

*We have a remarkable instance of this construction in Gen. xxxvii. 23.

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Joseph, his coat, the coat of many colours mhich was on him. See Ps. lxxi. 18. 22; lxxvi. 6. The whole of the men of might, (I mean) their hands (powers) have not prevailed: Jer. ix. 2; Job xxxviii. 12; 1 Cor. i. 15. ròv Erepavã oixov, Rev. i. 14.-The Hendiadys of Europeans.

person or thing has acquired power; it is then added that this is the war. The same may be said of the four following ones. In the sixth example, either a personification is resorted to, or some such word as affair, matter, thing, or the like, is to be supplied by the ellipsis: as, knowledge (it is a thing or person), that gives pleasure. In the seventh and eighth, the plurals seem to be taken collectively as, her cities (the whole), has gone up.* The arms of the orphans (the whole), is broken.

5. When the verb is introduced, it is sometimes found to agree with the subject, at others with the predicate e. g. NDR thy reward SHALL BE the spotted ones, Gen. xxxi. 8; yw-¬n nun apņY IT SHALL BE a devastation (i. e.) Mount Seir, Ezek. xxxv. 15. So, "The wages of sin is death."

6. So also when a personal pronoun occupies the

(as to) חֲקוֹת הָעַמִּים הֶבֶל הוּא .place of this verb : e. g

the statutes of the people, IT IS VANITY, Jer. x. 3, i. e. taken collectively.

7. When, however, inanimate or irrational beings are represented as agents, the feminine form of the verb is often taken: e. g. it bears away (i. e.) her effusions, the dust of the earth, Job xiv. 19; n d'en new the lips of the wise, it preserves them, Prov. xiv. 3. See also 1 Sam. iv. 15, 2 Sam. x. 9, Job xii. 7, xx. 11, Ps. cxix. 98, Is. lix. 12, Jer. xlviii. 41, li. 56, Mic. iv. 11.

8. When the apparent nominative is in the definite state of construction (see Art. 215. 12.) with another noun, the verb will occasionally agree with the latter:

* So in the Greek, πόλιν άρδην ἐξολοθρεῦσαι —aliquando (άρδην) significat sublime, Viger., Ed. 1813, p. 294.

This is a constant law in the Arabic, and generally in all the dialects of this family of languages, viz. that it is only when the agent is a rational being that the concordance is formal.

e. g. naw Thì nayp he wa* the concubine of Caleb (i. e.) Maachah (he) begat Sheber, 1 Chron. ii. 48.

9. When courage, virility, fortitude, efficiency, or the like, is intended to be predicated of females, verbs expressive of acts, &c. done by them, seem to be put in the masculine gender in order to express that; e. g. DY ND TAY DADDY as ye (women) HAVE DONE (courageously) with the dead and with me, Ruth i. 8; MIDI U8 UN 3 DAYT! and ye (women) SHALL KNOW (effectively) that I am the Lord Jehovah, Ezek. xxiii. 49 ; Sşını nivan wy and thou (fem.) doest evil things, and thou PREVAILEST (manfully), Jer. iii. 5.†

10. It has been laid down as a general rule, that the word intended to be considered as the most important in a sentence will stand first (Art. 212. 3.). When, therefore, this happens to be the apparent nominative to a verb, it is usually termed the Nominative absolute.

11. The office of this nominative is to enounce the subject matter of discourse (Art. 212. 3. note); which, as it is done in a manner independent of any of the following context in a formal point of view, has been termed absolute. Any nouns, pronouns, &c. following, and referring to this nominative, must, however, agree with it either logically, or formally: e. g. one Wal .... &c. (as to) a soul, when it shall sin...AND HE DO, &c., Lev. iv. 2; i. e. as spoken of a person,

T: 18

and (as to) TEN MEN, they were וַעֲשָׂרָה אֲנָשִׁים נִמְצְאוּ־בָס

* But here we may have an ellipsis.

It is a curious fact that the Grammarians of Arabia consider females as unintelligent agents, not absolutely, but relatively; and hence they account for these agents having, in grammar, the same government with collective inanimate See the Shurho Moolla Jámi, p. ~19.

nouns.

found among them, Jer. xli. 8; 2 TUINTIE DWDDDI T but (as to) Mephibosheth, the son of thy master, HE SHALL EAT continually, 2 Sam. ix. 10;

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8 and (as to) his concubine, and her name was Reumah, SHE ALSO BROUGHT FORTH, Gen. xxii. 24.

12. A great number of instances moreover occur, in which the Subject of the discourse is thus absolutely enounced (Art. 212.) by one or more words, not apparent nominatives to verbs, but which are, nevertheless, termed NOMINATIVES ABSOLUTE: e. g.

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(as to) THE WORDS which thou hast heard, &c., 2 Kings xxii. 18;

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which thou hast spoken .... we regard it not, Jer. xliv. 16; 787 and (as to) THE SIMILITUDE of the living creatures, THEIR appearances, &c.,

(and (as to וְכֹל דְּבַר חָכְמַת בִינָה.... וַיִּמְצָאֵם ; 13 .Ezek. i

EVERY MATTER of wisdom (and) discrimination....so he found them, Dan. i. 20; 18 man (as for) ME, behold my covenant is with thee, Gen. xvii. 4, &c.

13. The relative pronoun is often subject to this kind of construction, though always in a subordinate point of view, and when the subject matter of the proposition in which it is found, is not the real subject of the discourse, but nevertheless relates to it: e. g.

(as to) WHICH, the wind disperses it, Ps. i. 4; ¬WN

as to) WHICH, I commanded) צְוִיתִיךָ לְבִלְתִּי אֲכָל־מִמֶּנּוּ

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thee for not eating of it, &c., Gen. iii. 11; g 128

(with respect to) WHOM, the word of the

Lord came to him, &c., Jer. i. 2.

14. This view of such constructions will account for the apparent pleonasm of the pronoun in Hebrew, which has in some instances found its way into our own version. See also Exod. vi. 4, Lev. xviii. 5, Num. xiii. 27, Deut. xxviii. 49, 2 Kings xiii. 14, Jer. xiv. 1,

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