arising from ăy, in אִשֶּׁה belonging to fire (אֵשׁ), i.e. a sacrifice offered by fire; לִבְנֶה (prop. milky) the storax-shrub, Arabic lubnay.
[k] 6. Abstract nouns formed from concretes by the addition of וּת, ת[־ִי] (§ 95 t), cf. our terminations -dom, -hood, -ness, e.g. יַלְדוּת youth, מַלְכוּת kingdom (the omission of the Dageš in כ shows that the Šewâ is weakened from a full vowel; on malik as underlying the present form מֶ֫לֶךְ cf. § 84a a); אַלְמָנוּת widowhood, from אַלְמָן widower, אַלְמָנָה widow. In Aram. this fem. ending וּת (or וּ with rejection of the ת) is a common termination of the infinitive in the derived conjugations (cf., as substantival infinitives of this kind, הַשְׁמָעוּת the announcing, Ez 24, and הִתְחַבְּרוּת the making of a league, Dn 11); in Hebr. וּת as a termination to express abstract ideas (including some which appear to be directly derived from the verbal stem, as סִכְלוּת folly, רִפְאוּת a heating[1]) becomes more common only in the later books. It is affixed to adjectives ending in î (see above, h) in אַכְזְרִיּוּת cruelty, and קֽוֹמְמִיּוּת upright position (Lv 26, used adverbially).
[l] The ending ־ִית is found earlier, e.g. in שְׁאֵרִית remainder, רֵאשִׁית principium, from רֵאשׁ=רֹאשׁ (head) princeps. The termination ôth seems to occur in הָכְמוֹת wisdom (in Pr 1, 9, joined to a singular; so also חַכְמוֹת Pr 14, where, probably, חָכְמוֹת should likewise be read) and in הֽוֹלֵלוֹת Ec 1, &c., with the parallel form הֽוֹלֵלוּת Ec 10.
[a] 1. The regular plural termination for the masculine gender is ־ִים, always with the tone, e.g. סוּס horse, plur. סוּסִים horses; but also very often written defectively ־ִם, especially when in the same word one of the vowel letters, ו or י, precedes, e.g. Gn 1 תַּנִּינִם. Nouns in ־ִי make their plural in ־ִיִּים, e.g. עִבְרִי a Hebrew, plur. עִבְריִּים (Ex 3); but usually contraction takes place, e.g. עִבְרִים; שָׁנִים crimson garments, from שָׁנִי.
[b] Nouns in ־ֶה lose this termination when they take the plural ending, e.g. חֹזֶה seer, plur. חֹזִים (cf. § 75 h).—In regard to the loss of the tone from the ־ִם in the two old plurals מַ֫יִם water and שָׁמַ֫יִם heaven, cf. § 88 d and § 96.
[c] The termination ־ִים is sometimes assumed also by feminines (cf. נָשִׁים women, § 96 under אִשָּׁה; שָׁנִים years, from שָׁנָה; רְחֵלִים ewes, from רָחֵל), so that an indication of gender is not necessarily implied in it (cf. also below, m–p).—On the use of this termination ־ִים to express abstract, extensive, and intensive ideas, cf. § 124.
- ↑ [See a complete list of instances in König, Lehrgebäude, ii. 1, p. 205 f.]
