The verbal system of the Dead Sea scrolls
Subtitle: tense, aspect, and modality in Qumran Hebrew texts
By: by Ken M. Penner
Series: Studia Semitica Neerlandica -- volume 64
Publisher: Brill
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Leiden; Boston
Language: eng; heb
Number of pages: 228
ISBN-13: 9789004298439; 9789004298446
Subjects: Dead Sea scrolls; Hebrew language; Verb; Grammar; Language, style
Description: "In Verbs in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Tense, Aspect, or Mood? Ken M. Penner determines whether Qumran Hebrew finite verbs are primarily temporal, aspectual, or modal. Standard grammars claim Hebrew was aspect-prominent in the Bible, and tense-prominent in the Mishnah. But the semantic value of the verb forms in the intervening period in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were written has remained controversial. Penner answers the question of Qumran Hebrew verb form semantics using an empirical method: a database calculating the correlation between each form and each function, establishing that the ancient author's selection of verb form is determined not by aspect, but by tense or modality. Penner then applies these findings to controversial interpretations of three Qumran texts"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.