Biblical Hebrew הלוא זה\זאת\אלה and Medial Deixis Demonstratives (original) (raw)

Besides the highly frequent proximal demonstratives זה, זאת, and אלה and distal demonstratives הוא, היא, הם, and הן as well as their byforms, Biblical Hebrew attests a set of demonstrative pronouns that occur only sporadically: הלז (Jdg 6:20; 1 Sam 14:1; 17:26; 2 Kgs 4:25; 23:17; Zech 2:4; Dan 8:16), הלזה (Gen 24:65; 37:19), and הלזו (Ezek 36:35). Contrasting with the proximal and distal deictic value of the more common demonstratives, these pronouns express medial deixis, indicating objects, people, and places that are observable, but at some distance (Garr 2008). Similar forms occur in the different stages of Rabbinic Hebrew, where reliable manuscripts and epigraphic sources attest the pronouns הלז, הלה, הללו, הלוז, הלזו, and הלוו. As recently shown by Bunis (2022), these continue a reconstructible paradigm in which a medial or distal marker *hallā- was prefixed to the proximal demonstratives m.sg. זה, f.sg. זו, and pl. אלו. In this talk, we identify a potential Biblical Hebrew source construction for this *hallā-prefixed paradigm in the combination of the presentative הל(ו)א (cf. Sivan & Schniedewind 1993) with demonstrative זה (Gen 44:5; Ex 14:12; Jdg 9:38; 1 Sam 21:12, 29:3,5; Isa 58:6; Jon 4:2; Zech 3:2), זאת (2 Sam 11:3; Jer 2:17), and אלה (Hab 2:6). Most of these attestations can readily be interpreted as expressing medial deixis, like the הלז(ה) and הלזו pronouns. This supports the status of this construction as the source of both the Biblical Hebrew and the Rabbinic Hebrew prefixed pronominal paradigms. By identifying this diachronic relationship, we hope to shed new light on the use of Biblical Hebrew הל(ו)א (especially together with demonstrative pronouns), on the origin of the rare Biblical Hebrew medial demonstratives like הלז and related forms like Classical Arabic allaðī, and on the originally medial function of the similar demonstratives in Rabbinic Hebrew. References: Bunis, Ivri J. 2022. ‘Historical Morphosyntax of hallā- Demonstratives in Rabbinic Hebrew as Evidence for Spoken Hebrew in Amoraic Palestine’. Maarav 26.1–2, 161–195. Garr, W. Randall. 2008. ‘The Medial Demonstratives הלזה, הלזו, and הלז’. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 32.2, 383–389. Sivan, Daniel, & William Schniedewind. 1993. ‘Letting Your “Yes” Be “No” in Ancient Israel: A Study of the Asseverative לא and הֲלֹא’. Journal of Semitic Studies 38, 209–226.