Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar

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Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1909)
by Wilhelm Gesenius, translated by Arthur Ernest Cowley, edited by Emil Kautzsch

Title page

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The first edition of Hebräische Grammatik was published in German by Wilhelm Gesenius in Halle in 1813. This edition is the English translation (1910, A. E. Cowley (1861–1931)) of the last significant revision of the work (1909, E. Kautzsch). See the prefaces for more information about the book's earlier editions.

This grammar focuses only on Biblical Hebrew. It mentions Rabbinic Hebrew (calling it NH – "New Hebrew") only occasionally and has no information about Modern Israeli Hebrew, which was in its early formative stages when this edition was published. Also, its style of linguistic description is somewhat archaic. For example, it uses many Latin terms for which modern English terms exist. It also tends to describe historical sound change as "corruption", something which is avoided in modern Linguistics. Despite these minor shortcomings, even in the 21st century Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar remains one of the most important scientific sources on the grammar of Hebrew.

For important technical notes about this edition, especially if you plan to edit it yourself, see these pages:

Wilhelm GeseniusEmil Kautzsch350703Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar — Title page1909Arthur Ernest Cowley

GESENIUS'

HEBREW GRAMMAR

AS EDITED AND ENLARGED BY THE LATE
E. KAUTZSCH
PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF HALLE

SECOND ENGLISH EDITION

REVISED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TWENTY-EIGHTH GERMAN EDITION (1909) BY
A. E. COWLEY

WITH A FACSIMILE OF THE SILOAM INSCRIPTION BY J. EUTING, AND
A TABLE OF ALPHABETS BY M. LIDZBARSKI

OXFORD

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

Oxford University Press, Amen House, London E.C. 4

GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE WELLINGTON
BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS KARACHI CAPE TOWN IBADAN

Geoffrey Cumberlege, Publisher to the University

SECOND ENGLISH EDITION 1910

REPRINTED LITHOGRAPHICALLY IN GREAT BRITAIN
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, OXFORD, 1946, 1949, 1952, 1956
FROM CORRECTED SHEETS OF THE SECOND EDITION

CONTENTS

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		PAGE
Translator's Preface		iii
From the German Preface		v
Additions and Corrections		viii
List of abbreviations		x
Table of Early Semitic Alphabets
Siloam inscription		xviii
INTRODUCTION
§ 1.	The Semitic Languages in General	1
§ 2.	Sketch of the History of the Hebrew Language	8
§ 3.	Grammatical Treatment of the Hebrew Language	17
§ 4.	Division and Arrangement of the Grammar	22

FIRST PART ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES, OR THE SOUNDS AND CHARACTERS Chapter I. The Individual Sounds and Characters
§ 5.	The Consonants: their Forms and Names	24
§ 6.	Pronunciation and Division of Consonants	31
§ 7.	The Vowels in General, Vowel Letters and Vowel Signs	35
§ 8.	The Vowel Signs in particular	39
§ 9.	Character of the several Vowels	45
§ 10.	The Half Vowels and the Syllable Divider (Š^ewâ)	51
§ 11.	Other Signs which affect the Reading	54
§ 12.	Dageš in general, and Dageš forte in particular	55
§ 13.	Dageš lene	56
§ 14.	Mappîq and Rāphè	56
§ 15.	The Accents	57
§ 16.	Of Maqqēph and Mèthĕg	63
§ 17.	Of the Q^erê and K^ethîbh. Masora marginalis and finalis	65
Chapter II. Peculiarities and Changes of Letters: the Syllable and the Tone
§ 18.	In general	68
§ 19.	Changes of Consonants	68
§ 20.	The Strengthening (Sharpening) of Consonants	70
§ 21.	The Aspiration of the Tenues	75
§ 22.	Peculiarities of the Gutturals	76
§ 23.	The Feebleness of the Gutturals א and ה	79
§ 24.	Changes of the Weak Letters ו and י	82
§ 25.	Unchangeable Vowels	84
§ 26.	Syllable-formation and its Influence on the Quantity of Vowels	85
§ 27.	The Change of the Vowels, especially as regards Quantity	88
§ 28.	The Rise of New Vowels and Syllables	92
§ 29.	The Tone, its Changes, and the Pause	94
SECOND PART ETYMOLOGY, OR THE PARTS OF SPEECH
§ 30.	Stems and Roots; Biliteral, Triliteral, and Quadriliteral	99
§ 31.	Grammatical Structure	103
Chapter I. The Pronoun
§ 32.	The Personal Pronoun. The Separate Pronoun	105
§ 33.	Pronominal Suffixes	108
§ 34.	The Demonstrative Pronoun	109
§ 35.	The Article	110
§ 36.	The Relative Pronoun	112
§ 37.	The Interrogative and Indefinite Pronouns	113
Chapter II. The Verb
§ 38.	General View	114
§ 39.	Ground-form and Derived Stems	114
§ 40.	Tenses. Moods. Flexion	117
§ 41.	Variations from the Ordinary Form of the Strong Verb	118
I. The Strong Verb.
§ 42.	In general	118
A. The Pure Stem, or Qal.
§ 43.	Its Form and Meaning	118
§ 44.	Flexion of the Perfect of Qal	119
§ 45.	The Infinitive	122
§ 46.	The Imperative	124
§ 47.	The Imperfect and its Inflexion	125
§ 48.	Shortening and Lengthening of the Imperfect and Imperative. The Jussive and Cohortative	129
§ 49.	The Perfect and Imperfect with Wāw Consecutive	132
§ 50.	The Participle	136
B. Verba Derivativa, or Derived Conjugations.
§ 51.	Niphʿal	137
§ 52.	Piʿēl and Puʿal	139
§ 53.	Hiphʿil and Hophʿal	144
§ 54.	Hithpaʿēl	149
§ 55.	Less Common Conjugations	151
§ 56.	Quadriliterals	153
C. Strong Verb with Pronominal Suffixes.
§ 57.	In general	154
§ 58.	The Pronominal Suffixes of the Verb	155
§ 59.	The Perfect with Pronominal Suffixes	158
§ 60.	Imperfect with Pronominal Suffixes	160
§ 61.	Infinitive, Imperative and Participle with Pronominal Suffixes	162
Verbs with Gutturals.
§ 62.	In general	164
§ 63.	Verbs First Guttural	165
§ 64.	Verbs Middle Guttural	169
§ 65.	Verbs Third Guttural	171
II. The Weak Verb.
§ 66.	Verbs Primae Radicalis Nûn (פ״ן)	173
§ 67.	Verbs ע״ע	175
The Weakest Verbs (Verba Quiescentia).
§ 68.	Verbs פ״א	184
§ 69.	Verbs פ״י. First Class, or Verbs originally פ״ו	186
§ 70.	Verbs פ״י. Second Class, or Verbs properly פ״י	192
§ 71.	Verbs פ״י. Third Class, or Verbs with Yôdh assimilated	193
§ 72.	Verbs ע״וּ	194
§ 73.	Verbs middle i (vulgo ע״י)	202
§ 74.	Verbs ל״א	205
§ 75.	Verbs ל״ה	207
§ 76.	Verbs Doubly Weak	217
§ 77.	Relation of the Weak Verbs to one another	219
§ 78.	Verba Defectiva	219
Chapter III. The Noun
§ 79.	General View	221
§ 80.	The Indication of Gender in Nouns	222
§ 81.	Derivation of Nouns	225
§ 82.	Primitive Nouns	225
§ 83.	Verbal Nouns in General	226
§ 84^a.	Nouns derived from the Simple Stem	227
§ 84^b.	Formation of Nouns from the Intensive Stem	233
§ 85.	Nouns with Preformatives and Afformatives	235
§ 86.	Denominative Nouns	239
§ 87.	Of the Plural	241
§ 88.	Of the Dual	244
§ 89.	The Genitive and the Construct State	247
§ 90.	Real and supposed Remains of Early Case-endings	248
§ 91.	The Noun with Pronominal Suffixes	254
§ 92.	Vowel Changes in the Noun	260
§ 93.	Paradigms of Masculine Nouns	262
§ 94.	Formation of Feminine Nouns	275
§ 95.	Paradigms of Feminine Nouns	276
§ 96.	Nouns of Peculiar Formation	281
§ 97.	Numerals. (a) Cardinal Numbers	286
§ 98.	Numerals. (b) Ordinal Numbers	292
Chapter IV. The Particles
§ 99.	General View	293
§ 100.	Adverbs	294
§ 101.	Prepositions	297
§ 102.	Prefixed Prepositions	298
§ 103.	Prepositions with Pronominal Suffixes and in the Plural Form	300
§ 104.	Conjunctions	305
§ 105.	Interjections	307
THIRD PART SYNTAX Chapter I. The Parts of Speech I. Syntax of the Verb. A. Use of the Tenses and Moods.
§ 106.	Use of the Perfect	309
§ 107.	Use of the Imperfect	313
§ 108.	Use of the Cohortative	319
§ 109.	Use of the Jussive	321
§ 110.	The Imperative	324
§ 111.	The Imperfect with Wāw Consecutive	326
§ 112.	The Perfect with Wāw Consecutive	330
B. The Infinitive and Participle.
§ 113.	The Infinitive Absolute	339
§ 114.	The Infinitive Construct	347
§ 115.	Construction of the Infinitive Construct with Subject and Object	352
§ 116.	The Participles	355
C. The Government of the Verb.
§ 117.	The Direct Subordination of the Noun to the Verb as Accusative of the Object. The Double Accusative	362
§ 118.	The Looser Subordination of the Accusative to the Verb	372
§ 119.	The Subordination of Nouns to the Verb by means of Prepositions	377
§ 120.	Verbal Ideas under the Government of a Verb. Co-ordination of Complementary Verbal Ideas	385
§ 121.	Construction of Passive Verbs	387
II. Syntax of the Noun.
§ 122.	Indication of the Gender of the Noun	389
§ 123.	The Representation of Plural Ideas by means of Collectives, and by the Repetition of Words	394
§ 124.	The Various Uses of the Plural-Form	396
§ 125.	Determination of Nouns in general. Determination of Proper Names	401
§ 126.	Determination by means of the Article	404
§ 127.	The Noun determined by a following Determinate Genitive	410
§ 128.	The Indication of the Genitive Relation by means of the Construct State	414
§ 129.	Expression of the Genitive by Circumlocution	419
§ 130.	Wider Use of the Construct State	421
§ 131.	Apposition	423
§ 132.	Connexion of the Substantive with the Adjective	427
§ 133.	The Comparison of Adjectives. (Periphrastic expression of the Comparative and Superlative)	429
§ 134.	Syntax of the Numerals	432
III. Syntax of the Pronoun.
§ 135.	The Personal Pronoun	437
§ 136.	The Demonstrative Pronoun	442
§ 137.	The Interrogative Pronoun	443
§ 138.	The Relative Pronoun	444
§ 139.	Expression of Pronominal Ideas by means of Substantives	447
Chapter II. The Sentence I. The Sentence in General.
§ 140.	Noun-clauses, Verbal-clauses, and the Compound Sentence	450
§ 141.	The Noun-clause	451
§ 142.	The Verbal-clause	455
§ 143.	The Compound Sentence	457
§ 144.	Peculiarities in the Representation of the Subject (especially in the Verbal-clause)	459
§ 145.	Agreement between the Members of a Sentence, especially between Subject and Predicate, in respect of Gender and Number	462
§ 146.	Construction of Compound Subjects	467
§ 147.	Incomplete Sentences	469
II. Special Kinds of Sentences.
§ 148.	Exclamations	471
§ 149.	Sentences which express an Oath or Asseveration	471
§ 150.	Interrogative Sentences	473
§ 151.	Desiderative Sentences	476
§ 152.	Negative Sentences	478
§ 153.	Restrictive and Intensive Clauses	483
§ 154.	Sentences connected by Wāw	484
§ 155.	Relative Clauses	485
§ 156.	Circumstantial Clauses	489
§ 157.	Object-clauses (Oratio Obliqua)	491
§ 158.	Causal Clauses	492
§ 159.	Conditional Sentences	493
§ 160.	Concessive Clauses	498
§ 161.	Comparative Clauses	499
§ 162.	Disjunctive Sentences	500
§ 163.	Adversative and Exceptive Clauses	500
§ 164.	Temporal Clauses	501
§ 165.	Final Clauses	503
§ 166.	Consecutive Clauses	504
§ 167.	Aposiopesis, Anacoluthon, Involved Series of Sentences	505
Paradigms		507
Index of Subjects		533
Index of Hebrew Words		544
Index of Passages		565

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Original:

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.

The longest-living author of this work died in 1931, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 92 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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