the primitive vowel which would stand between the second and third radical, is thrown back to the first in case it has no firm vowel of its own, as for 20, for, where the a (†) is merely the foretone and therefore easily disappears (§ 21. 3.); and that too even when two consonants go before, as for a, b for 207. Under this class are ranked the verbs called Double Ayin (“).

(b) Roots in which a medial long vowel, e. g. u (), supplies the place of the second radical, as p qum, kun. Here the original form is doubtless to be considered as having been 1, 12, but the 1 has been softened to its appropriate vowel sound by the operation of the laws stated § 26. 3, a, b. These form the Ayin Vav (1) class of verbs.

(c) Roots which have their first or last radical or both a quies. cent; in all which cases certain peculiarities of formation occur which are to be explained by referring to the nature and power of these letters as detailed in § 26. 1–7.

6. The above three classes of verbs, in which one or more of the primitive letters is dropped or assimilated in the course of flexion, it has been usual for grammarians to denominate irregular, in contradistinction to those whose original radicals are retained through all changes, and which are thence termed regular. But as all their anomalies are resolvable into the characteristic properties of the weak quiescent letters, and are the necessary result of the affections to which they are subject in certain positions, the term irregular is not to be understood as implying those arbitrary abnormal modes of inflection which are of such frequent occurrence in most European languages whether ancient or modern. For this reason some philologists have preferred to arrange the Hebrew verbs under the two heads of perfect and imperfect, a distinction based upon a corresponding division of the letters also into perfect and imperfect. But if the principle of the variations from the common form be understood, the particular appellation is of little consequence, and we have accordingly seen fit to adhere to that which is most familiar to grammatical usage.

§32. INFLECTION.

1. In strict propriety of speech the Hebrew verbs have no conjugation, at least in the sense in which that term is employed in reference to the Greek, Latin, and other languages, although in default of a better the word is still retained by grammarians to denote

the different forms which the same verb assumes to express different shades of meaning. These conjugations or forms (Heb. 2 buildings) are seven in number, technically termed Kal, Niphal, Piel, Pual, Hiphil, Hophal, Hithpael. Four of these, viz. Kal, Piel, Hiphil, and Hithpael, have an active signification, while the remain. ing three are for the most part passive.

2. The names of these conjugations, with the exception of the first, are derived from the various forms of the Hebrew verb to do, to act, which was employed by the earlier Jewish grammarians as a paradigm or model-verb to illustrate the conjugations, and are merely the modes of pronouncing those forms. Thus :

Under the impression probably that the essence of the verb consisted in action, the true import of 3, these various forms were adopted as technical terms to indicate the principal branches or conjugations of the verb in general. But as the second radical (») is a Guttural, which rejects Dagesh due as a characteristic of several of the conjugations, thus destroying the regular analogy of the form, it was afterwards very properly laid aside as a paradigm, and 7 adopted by most of the earlier Christian grammarians in its place. But to this again it was an objection that was one of the Aspirates, and, from occasionally requiring a Dagesh lene, did not exhibit the verb in its simplest form. The same remark applies to , which is found in the grammar of Ewald and some others. Perhaps no more unexceptionable word can be adopted for this purpose than either Brip to reign, or 3 to kill, of which the latter is employed by Gesenius and Stuart, and also in the present work.

Instead of Pâ-ăl for the first, which analogy would require, Kal (3) is uniformly employed, which signifies light, intimating that in this form the verb appears in its simplest state, unincumbered with the prefixes, &c., which distinguish the other forms. The term was adopted in contradistinction to grave or heavy (3), as the old Jewish grammarians denominated the derived forms.

3. For purposes of convenience, particularly in distinguishing the different classes of irregular verbs, it is usual to apply the radical letters of the verb by to act separately as a technical designation of the several letters of any triliteral root whatever. E. g. as Pe () is the first letter of this root, Ayin () the second, and Lamed (3) the third, the word to rest may be characterized as a verb of Pe Nun () because its first radical is 2, or of Ayin Vav (1") because its second is 7, or of Lamed Heth (3) or Lamed Guttural because the third is, which is also a Guttural. It seldom becomes necessary, however, for reasons which will hereafter appear, to characterize more than one of the radical letters of the same root in this

manner.

4. Classes. Of the classes of verbs thus distinguished the following are the principal:

(a) Those that have the first radical a Guttural, and are consequently denominated Pe Guttural; as

to speak אָמַר

to go הָלַךְ

to desire חָמַד

to stand עָמַד

designated as verbs Guttural.

In like manner when the second or third radical is a Guttural, the corresponding title is Ayin Guttural or Lamed Guttural.

(b) Those whose first radical is Yod (^); as

(d) Those whose second and third radicals are alike; as

(e) Those whose second radical'is Vav (1); as

(f) Those whose third radical is Aleph (N); as

(g) Those whose third radical is He (7); as

5. By having thus a standard, or common measure, with which to compare words, we may easily ascertain their general meaning. Thus by knowing that is the form of the 3d pers. masc. pret. of all active transitive verbs, pip of the active participle, and b

form are also of the 3d pers. sing. masc. pret.; that is, ið,

of the same עָבַר לָמַד פָּקַד of the passive, we may be certain that

.participles passive שָׁבוּר לָמוּד פָּקוּד are participles active ; and שׁוֹבֵר

So also by knowing that the form

generally pertains to intran

sitive verbs, we at once infer that 1, 37, &c., are intransitives ; and so of every other form of the verb.

6. In the same manner the forms of nouns may be ascertained by comparing them with a similar form derived from or from any other word in its simplest state, which may be adopted as a common measure. For it will be at once perceived that 3 for instance, may represent any word of which the vowels are Kamets and Pattah. So upon any augmentation or alteration being made either in its vowels or consonants, or both, other forms will arise which may severally represent words of other classes, each having meanings, or shades of meanings, peculiar to themselves. In this respect such words are used, like the formulæ in Algebra, to designate whole classes of others having the same form. Thus all nouns consisting of three radicals having Kamets under the first and second, as 7, 7, 27, &c., are said to be of the form. Those having Kamets for the first and Tseri for the second, as,, are

of the מַמְלָכָה and מִקְטָל is of the form מִשְׁפָּט So קָטֵל of the form .c& ,מַקְטָלָה form

7. Unusual Conjugations. In addition to the conjugations above mentioned, which are of most usual occurrence, we occasionally meet with other forms, marked with some peculiarity of significa

No single verb is thus found, and probably never was, exhibiting all the various phases pertaining to the above mentioned conjugations, but as our object is simply to show the analogical forms of verbs, this is an unimportant circumstance. We shall not hesitate to give specimens of forms of which no actual instances any where occur.

§ 33. MODES.

1. It is ever to be borne in mind, that the grammatical structure of the Hebrew is essentially different from that of the European languages, whether ancient or modern, and consequently that we are not to be surprised to find many of the leading features of the latter entirely wanting in the former. This holds especially in regard to the department of verbal flexion. The nicely adjusted system of modes and tenses common to the grammars of the Latin and Greek, is in a great measure unknown to the simplicity of the primeval tongue, in which the subtler modifications of sense, and the accidents of mode and time, are rather to be gathered from the scope and connection of the sentence, than from the external forms of words. Every Hebrew verb has indeed the two grand distinctions of past and future time clearly marked; and as to modes, we find appropriate forms for the infinitive and imperative, but the indicative is merged in the general species or conjugation, and the subjunctive is either expressed by a peculiar modification of the future tense, or left to be inferred from the drift of the context.

2. The Infinitive.-As in all other languages, so in Hebrew the primary office of the Infinitive is to express the bare idea of a verbal root without specification of time or person. In this character it approximates very closely to the noun, exhibiting in its original form only the radical letters of the root (5), and being called, from its peculiar nominal properties, the Infinitive construct, since it is entirely dependent upon the structure of the proposition, and closely