wise. It can hardly be doubted (but cf. h, Rem.) that the (locative) termination ־ָה is a survival of the old accusative termination a, and that וּ in certain compound proper names is the old sign of the nominative. The explanation of the î as an old genitive sign, which, as being no longer understood in Hebrew, was used for quite different purposes, and the view that וֹ is a form of the nominative termination וּ, are open to grave doubts.
[b] In Assyrian the rule is that u marks the nominative, i the genitive, and a the accusative,[1] ‘in spite of the many and various exceptions to this rule which occur’ (Delitzsch, Assyrische Gramm., § 66). Similarly, the Arabic case-endings in the fully declined nouns (Triptotes) are: -u for the nominative, -i for the genitive, and -a for the accusative; in the Diptotes the ending -a represents the genitive also. In modern Arabic these endings have almost entirely disappeared, and if they are now and then used, as among the Beduin, it is done without regularity, and one is interchanged with another (Wallin, in ZDMG. v, p. 9, xii, p. 874; Wetzstein, ibid., xxii, p. 113 f., and especially Spitta, Gramm. des Arab. Vulgärdialekts von Ägypten, Lpz. 1880, p. 147 ff.). Even as early as the Sinaitic inscriptions, their regular use is not maintained (Beer,Studia Asiatica, iii. 1840, p. xviii; Tuch, ZDMG. iii. 139 f.). Ethiopic has preserved only the -a (in proper names -hâ), which is, however, still used for the whole range of the accusative, and also (the distinction of case being lost) as a termination of the constr. st. to connect it with a following genitive.
[c] 2. As remarked above, under a, the accusative form is preserved in Hebrew most certainly and clearly in the (usually toneless) ending ־ָה, originally ă, as in the old Arabic accusative. This is appended to the substantive:
(a) Most commonly to express direction towards an object, or motion to a placer,[2] e.g. יָ֫מָּה seaward, westward, קֵ֫דְמָה eastward, צָפ֫וֹנָה northward, אַשּׁ֫וּרָה to Assyria, בָּבֶ֫לָה to Babylon, חֶ֫רָה (from הַר) to the mountain, Gn 14, אַ֫רְצָה to the earth, בַּ֫יְתָה to the house, תִּרְצָ֫תָה to Tirzah (תִּרְצָה) 1 K 14, &c., עַזָּ֫תָה to Gaza (עַזָּה) Ju 16; with the article הָהָ֫רָה to the mountain, הַבַּ֫יְתָה into the house, הַחַ֫דְרָה into the chamber, 1 K 1; הָאֹ֫הֱלָה[3] into the tent, Gn 18, &c.; similarly with adverbs, as שָׁ֫מָּה thither, אָ֫נָת whither?; even with the constr. st. before a genitive בֵּ֫יתָה יוֹסֵף into Joseph’s house, Gn 43; אַ֫רְצָה הַנֶּ֫גֶב toward the land of the south, Gn 20; אַ֫רְצָה מִצְרַ֫יִם to the land of Egypt, Ex 4; מִדְבַּ֫רָה דַמֶּ֫שֶׂק to the wilderness of Damascus, 1 K 19; מִזְרְחָ֫ה שֶׁ֫מֶשׁ toward the sun-rising, Dt 4; and even with the plural כַּשְׂדִּימָה into Chaldea, Ez 11; הָשָּׁמַ֫יִמָה towards the heavens.
- ↑ This rule is almost always observed in the Tell-el-Amarna letters (see § 2 f); cf. the instances cited by Barth, l. c., p. 595, from Winckler’s edition.
- ↑ On this meaning of the accusative see the Syntax, § 118 d, and cf. the Latin accusative of motion to a place, as in Romam profectus est, domum reverti, rus ire.
- ↑ הָאֹֽהֱלָ֫ה in Baer’s text, Gn 18, is an error, according to his preface to Isaiah, p. v.
