Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
HEBREW LANGUAGE
AND LINGUISTICS
Volume 3
P–Z
General Editor
Geoffrey Khan
Associate Editors
Shmuel Bolokzy
Steven E. Fassberg
Gary A. Rendsburg
Aaron D. Rubin
Ora R. Schwarzwald
Tamar Zewi
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2013
© 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978-90-04-17642-3

Table of Contents
Volume One
Introduction ........................................................................................................................ vii

List of Contributors ............................................................................................................ ix
Transcription Tables ........................................................................................................... xiii
Articles A-F ......................................................................................................................... 1
Volume Two
Transcription Tables ........................................................................................................... vii

Articles G-O ........................................................................................................................ 1
Volume Three

Articles P-Z ......................................................................................................................... 1
Volume Four

Index ................................................................................................................................... 1

pluralis majestatis: biblical hebrew 145
original language (e.g., Yiddish qre- ±alafim ‘thousands of people’ vs.

plax ‘filled dumpling’, qnišes ‘stuffed ±élef ‘a thousand’, pla±im ‘drastically’ vs.
dough’; Italian: paparaßi ‘paparazzo’). péle ‘a wonder’, ba- inyanim ‘in
The stressed suffix -in is adopted from Mish- the know’ vs. inyan ‘matter’. The plural
naic Hebrew and is also common in plurale form may have a special function, e.g.,
tantum nouns ( ±erusin ‘engagement’). rabotay ‘gentleman (vocative)’, š†uyot!
The plural suffix of the plurale tantum nouns ‘nonsense! (exclamation)’.
is not inflectional, as the regular plural suffix,
but rather derivational, because it is part of the References
word’s basic form and not a morpheme which Avioz, Chagit. 2004. “Modern Hebrew number and
is attached to the singular form. Therefore, possessive inflection in nouns” (in Hebrew). PhD
dissertation, Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University.
it must be marked in the lexicon as [+Plural] Gleason, Henry A. 1961. An introduction to descrip-
(Kiparsky 1982). tive linguistics. New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Plurale tantum words can be divided into Winston.
two main groups (Avioz 2004). One group Kiparsky, Paul. 1982. “From cyclic to lexical pho-
nology”. The Structure of Phonological Repre-
includes nouns which either lack a singular sentation, Part I, ed. by Harry van der Hulst and
form or their singular form is rare or was cre- Norval Smith, 131–175. Dordrecht: Foris.
ated by back formation. In this group we find Schwarzwald, Ora R. 2001. Modern Hebrew.
generic nouns ( ±egoziyim ‘Juglandaceae Muenchen: LINCOM EUROPA.
——. 2002. Studies in Hebrew Morphology (in
(botany)’, ulyetanim ‘vertebrae’, Hebrew). 12 Units. Tel Aviv: The Open University.
ximiqalim ‘chemicals’); nouns indicat-
ing objects consisting of units, usually of small Chagit Avioz
(Bar Ilan University and Talpiot College)
size ( †uganim ‘French fries, ptitim
‘toasted pasta’; zimim ‘gills’;
† orim ‘hemorrhoids’, kvasim ‘laundry’);
nouns indicating objects with a ‘dual’ ele- Pluralis Majestatis: Biblical
ment ( gapáyim ‘limbs’; garbonim Hebrew
‘tights-pantyhose’; ±ofanáyim ‘bicycle’,
melqa áyim ‘clamps’), etc. The sec- The term ‘majestic plural’ or pluralis majesta-
ond group includes nouns and sememes which tis refers to the use of a plural word to refer
have a singular form, but the semantic relation honorifically to a single person or entity. It is
between the singular and the plural is dubious. also called the ‘plural of respect’, the ‘honorific
In some cases the grammatically singular form is plural’, the ‘plural of excellence’, or the ‘plural
semantically distinct from the plural form, e.g., of intensity’. In the Hebrew Bible such plural
mi u†im ‘minorities’ (singular forms are most commonly used when referring
mi u† ‘diminution’), meqorot ‘heritage’ to the God of Israel, e.g., ± ònìm
(singular maqor ‘source’), šqedim ±<ånì ‘I am a master (lit. ‘masters’)’ (Mal. 1.6),
‘tonsils’ (singular šaqed ‘almond’), although it can also be used when referring to
snapirim ‘flippers (for swimming)’ (singular a human, e.g., ±a r<åh<åm ± òn<åw
snapir ‘fin [of fish]’). The plural form ‘Abraham his master (lit. ‘masters’)’ (Gen. 24.9),
may occur in idioms and fixed expressions an object, e.g., qi rò Æú<å ‘your grave
which do not allow the singular, e.g., (lit. ‘graves’)’ (2 Kgs 22.20), or a personified
†ipin †ipin ‘little by little’, be- adre abstraction, e.g., ™åúmò
adarim ‘in inner chambers’; araš b<ån <å è <åh ‘Wisdom (lit. ‘wisdoms’) has built
mezimot ‘he devised evil’; ±avir her house’ (Prov. 9.1). The pluralis majestatis
psagot ‘mountain air’. The singular form may appears most frequently in nouns, particularly
be semantically identical with the plural form, ±(lòhìm ‘God (lit. ‘gods’)’, but may
e.g., - séter-starim ‘secret hiding also be used with nominalized adjectives, e.g.,
place/places’, - marom-meromim që òšìm ‘the Holy One (lit. ‘holy ones’)’
‘heaven’. The singular form may be a differ- (Prov. 9.10); some participles, e.g., ò«ayiú
ent part of speech from the plural form as a ‘your maker (lit. ‘makers’)’ (Isa.54.5) seem to
result of category shift, e.g., mitpale- be examples of the pluralis majestatis as well
lim ‘worshippers’ vs. mitpalel ‘he prays’, (Joüon and Muraoka 1991:501–502; Waltke

146 pluralis majestatis: modern hebrew
and O’Connor 1990:123; but see GKC 399). (1) Plural of excellence or intensity, namely
There are no undisputed examples of a pronoun nouns in the plural form which denote a sin-
or a verb displaying the pluralis majestatis; gular referent of particular importance or to
plural self-reference by a deity, e.g., which particular honor is due (Waltke and
na «Æ ±<å <åm bë-ßalmènù ‘let us make O’Connor 1990:122–123, §7.4.3a–d; Joüon
humankind in our image’ (Gen. 1.26), has occa- and Muraoka 2006:469–470, §136d–e). Most
sionally been explained as pluralis majestatis, cases of this biblical usage refer to the God
but comparative Semitic and contextual factors of Israel, primarily the form ±(lòhìm
favor other explanations (for further discussion, ‘God’ (2,603 occurrences in the Bible), but
see GKC 398; Hasel 1975:58–66; Westermann also ‘the Holy One’ (e.g., Prov. 9.10),
1981:144–145). ± ònìm ‘Lord’ (e.g., Deut. 10.17), and
When a plural word used in the pluralis ± ònay ‘my Lord’ (425 occurrences in
majestatis is modified by an adjective, the adjec- the Bible). Forms referring to humans include
tive is usually singular, e.g., ±(lòhìm ± ònìm ‘lord’ (e.g., 1 Kgs 1.43) and
™ay ‘the living God’ (Isa. 37.4), although a plural bë <ålìm ‘master’ (e.g., Isa. 1.3), mostly in
adjective is occasionally used, e.g., the suffixed forms. Also worthy of mention in
±(lòhìm ™ayyìm ‘the living God’ (Jer. 23.36). this context are the names of two great mon-
Similarly, when a plural word in the pluralis sters, bëhèmò (Job 40.15) and
majestatis is the subject of a verb, the verb is tannìnìm (Ps. 74.13), certain participle forms
usually singular, e.g., h<ålaú h<å- (e.g, ò«åy ‘my creator [lit. “creators”]’
±(lòhìm ‘God went’ (1 Chron. 17.21), but a [ Job 35.10]), and a few other isolated items.
plural verb is occasionally used, e.g., Forms in the pluralis majestatis take singular
<
hålúù-±(lòhìm ‘God went’ (2 Sam. 7.23). agreement, as in bë-rèšì
b<år<å ±(lòhìm ‘in the beginning God created’
References (Gen. 1.1). When the same nouns serve as ordi-
Ember, Aaron. 1905. “The pluralis intensivus in nary plurals, they take plural agreement, as in
Hebrew”. American Journal of Semitic Languages
and Literature 21:195–231.
±(lòhìm ±a™èrìm ‘(various) other
GKC = Kautzsch, Emil (ed.). 1910. Gesenius’ Hebrew gods’ (multiple occurrences).
grammar. Trans. by Arthur E. Cowley. Oxford: (2) Majestic or royal ‘we’, namely the
Clarendon. employment of plural rather than singular 1st
Hasel, Gerhard F. 1975. “Meaning of ‘Let us’ in
Gn 1:26”. Andrews University Seminary Studies person forms by a single speaker. Originally
13:58–66. used by monarchs or high ranking individuals
Joüon, Paul and Takamitsu Muraoka. 1991. A gram- in socially-stratified cultures, this usage has
mar of Biblical Hebrew. Rome: Pontifical Biblical not taken root in Hebrew. In Biblical Hebrew
Institute Press.
Van der Merwe, Christo H. J., Jackie A. Naudé, and it does not exist at all. Apparent cases such
Jan H. Kroeze. 2002. A Biblical Hebrew reference as way-yòmÆr ±(lòhìm
grammar. London: Sheffield Academic. na «Æ ±<å <åm ‘And God said: ‘Let us make man’
Waltke, Bruce K. and Michael O’Connor. 1990. An (Gen. 1.26) manifest rather the plural of ‘self-
introduction to Biblical Hebrew syntax. Winona
Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. deliberation’ (Joüon and Muraoka 2006:347,
Westermann, Claus. 1981. Genesis, vol. 1. Neukir- §114e, n. 7, 469, §136d, n. 3). In Modern
chener Vluyn: Neukirchener. Hebrew the use of majestic ‘we’ occasionally
Williams, Ronald J. and John C. Beckman. 2007.
occurs, but its presence is very limited. The
Williams’ Hebrew syntax, 3rd edition. Toronto:
University of Toronto Press. main context in which it may be found is
academic writing (i.e., the so-called ‘editorial
John C. Beckman we’, mirroring a usage extant in this register in
(Harvard University)
other languages as well.
1st person plural forms may be employed
in Modern Hebrew by a single speaker in
Pluralis Majestatis: Modern certain other contexts (e.g., while talking to
Hebrew young children, in propaganda texts describ-
ing one’s achievements, etc.), but in most cases
Despite its meager presence in the language, the they reflect other factors, and may only dubi-
term pluralis majestatis refers in Hebrew to two ously be interpreted as manifestations of the
different phenomena: majestic ‘we’.

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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF

© 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978-90-04-17642-3

Introduction ........................................................................................................................ vii

Transcription Tables ........................................................................................................... vii

Transcription Tables ........................................................................................................... vii

Transcription Tables ........................................................................................................... vii

© 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978-90-04-17642-3

original language (e.g., Yiddish qre- ±alafim ‘thousands of people’ vs.

© 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978-90-04-17642-3

© 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978-90-04-17642-3

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