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A DICTIONARY OF SPECIAL AND TECHNICAL TERMS

FOR HEBREW AND GREEK STUDIES 1

Lee R. Martin

RETURN TO HEBREW PAGE

ABSOLUTE STATE: The Hebrew absolute together with a word in the construct state expresses the genitive. Do not
confuse with the infinitive absolute. Heb: king (absolute); horse of (construct) the king (absolute), i.e., the king's horse
(genitive).

ACCIDENCE: That part of grammar that treats inflection; a subcategory of morphology.

ACCUSATIVE CASE: A substantive used as the direct object of a transitive verb is said to be in the accusative case. In
Greek, the accusative is the case of extension. Heb: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1).
Gk: "He gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12).

ACCUSATIVE ENDING: In Hebrew see DIRECTIVE h.

ACTIVE VOICE: In the active voice, the subject is the doer of the action that is expressed by the verb. Heb: "In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). Gk: "He gave the right to become children of God" (John
1:12).

ADJECTIVE/ADJECTIVAL: A word, phrase, or clause used to modify a noun or in some cases a substantive. In
Hebrew and Greek, it agrees with the word modified (concord). Heb: "Abraham held a great feast" (Gen. 21:8). Gk: "I
am the good shepherd" (John 10:11). Also called adnominal.

ADVERB/ADVERBIAL: A word, phrase, or clause used to modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb. In English,
adverbs are usually formed with the suffix "-ly." In Hebrew and Greek, many adverbs are formed with suffixes: other
parts of speech and many clauses are used adverbially. Heb: "Agag came to him confidently" (1 Sam. 15:32). Gk:
"Freely you have received, freely give" (Matt. 10:8).

AFFIX: A bound morpheme, a letter or syllable placed at the beginning, middle, or end of a root or stem that will
modify its meaning. Heb: pronouns, plural endings, and verbal forms that indicate person, gender, and number may be
affixed to words. Gk: derivational affixes are used to form new words, e.g., compunds like katafilevw, "I kiss," from
filevw; inflectional affixes include noun and verb endings, augment, and reduplication.

AFFORMATIVE: An ending or suffix.

AKTIONSART: German for "kind of action." Used in grammars as the equivalent of aspect.

ANARTHROUS: A word that appears without the article is anarthrous. Heb: "Let us make man" (Gen. 1:26). Gk: "and
the word was God" (John 1:1).

ANTECEDENT: A substantive to which a pronoun refers: personal demonstrative, and relative pronouns have
antecedents. Heb: "a nation whose language you will not understand" (Deut. 28:49). Gk: "his Son from heaven, whom
he raised from the dead" (1 Thess. 1:10).

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From http://earth.vol.com/~lmartin/HBGKDICT.HTM
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APOCOPATION: To cut short by apocope, i.e., the rejection of a letter or syllable at the end of a word. Heb: The loss
of the final he in many Hebrew words. Gk: The loss of a final short vowel before an initial consonant in Greek
composition.

APODOSIS: The conclusion in a conditional sentence, expressing the result of a protasis; the independent or "then"
clause. Heb: "If you fully obey the LORD your God... (protasis), the LORD your God will set you high above all the
nations on earth (apodosis)" (Deut. 28:1). Gk: "If you love me (protasis), you will obey what I command (apodosis)"
(John 14:15).

ARAMAIC: A branch of the northwest Semitic languages that is closely related to Hebrew. In the OT Masoretic text,
Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26; Dan. 2:4b-7:28; and Jer. 10:11 are in Aramaic rather than Hebrew. Aramaic had become the
common language of the Jewish people by NT times.

ARTICULAR: A word that appears with the definite article is articular. Heb: "God saw that the light was good" (Gen.
1:4). Gk: "He himself was not the light" (John 1:8).

ASPECT: A category used in grammatical analysis of the verb (along with tense and mood) to describe the duration or
kind of action: the English equivalent of the German technical term Aktionsart. Heb: the perfect represents completed
action, as opposed to the imperfect, which represents incomplete action. Gk: the present tense represents linear,
progressive action, while the aorist represents punctiliar action.

ASPIRATE/ASPIRATION: Sounded with a strong emission of breath: addition of an "h" sound to a phoneme,
especially to the vowel beginning a Greek word: indicated in writing by a rough breathing mark.

ASSIMILATION: The adaptation of two adjacent sounds (consonant or vowel) to each other, either forward
(progressive assimilation) or backward (regressive assimilation) in the word. Generally, a consonant that should close a
syllable passes over into another that begins the next syllable and forms with it a strengthened letter or syllable. Heb: n
is the most frequently assimilated letter in Hebrew, e.g., in lfeQ;yI the dagesh forte in the Q represents an assimilated n
of the niphal stem. Gk: a consonant that precedes a consonant is generally assimilated to the second consonant, e.g., in
ejmmevnw n+m has become mm.

ATTENUATION: The "thinning" of a sound. Heb: A patach may become a hireq, or a full vowel may be reduced to a
sheva. Gk: any of the long vowels may be shortened in formation and inflection of words; cf. vowel gradation.

ATTRIBUTIVE: An adjective or other adjunct word that stands before the noun it qualifies. Ex. white bread. Heb: the
attributive may also be expressed by the genitive relationship: "man of strength" = "strong man." Gk: the attributive
may follow the noun when both are articular.

BARTH'S LAW: A statement of predictable vowel changes in Hebrew. If the thematic vowel of the perfect is a-class,
the thematic vowel of the imperfect will be of the u-class. If the perfect thematic vowel is i or u, the imperfect will be a-
class.

BEGAD KEPHAT LETTERS: A mnemonic device containing the six Hebrew consonants (t p k d g b) whose
pronunciation may change by the insertion or omission of a dagesh lene.

"BUMP" LETTERS: A mnemonic device containing the Hebrew consonants that affect the pronunciation of the
conjunction vav when it is prefixed to these consonants. The rule is that before b m p, and sheva the conjunction is
pointed W instead of wÒ.

CASE: Case shows the grammatical relation of inflected forms such as nouns and pronouns to other words (nominative,
possessive, objective cases).

CASE ENDING: In Greek, case endings are affixed to words to designate the case; in Hebrew, case endings are no
longer used except in rare instances that may be remnants of earlier case endings.
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CAUSATIVE VERB: A transitive verb that can be said to cause the action depicted in a corresponding intransitive
verb. Ex: lay ("cause to lie") is the causative of lie; raise, the causative of rise.

CLOSED SYLLABLE: A syllable that ends in a consonant.

COGNATE ACCUSATIVE: A noun, derived from the same root as the verb, that defines, explains, or strengthens
(emphasizes) the verbal idea. It is also called the absolute object, the internal object, schema etymologicum, or figura
etymologica. Heb: "Jerusalem has sinned greatly" (Lam. 1:8), lit., "Jerusalem has sinned a sin." Gk: "If anyone sees his
brother commit a sin" (1 John 5:16), lit., "sinning a sin."

COHORTATIVE: Modal aspect of a verb, expressing desire, will, request, wish, self-encouragement, intention of the
speaker for himself. It may be considered a modified imperative and usually appears in the first person. Heb: "Then God
said, 'Let us make man in our image'" (Gen. 1:26). Indicated in Heb. by appending h to the end of a 1st person
imperfect. Gk: "Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" (Heb. 12:1). Also called hortatory.

COMPARATIVE DEGREE: Forms of adjectives and adverbs, or adjectival and adverbial constructions, that express
relative increase of quality, quantity, or intensity. In English, the comparative degree is expressed by an adjective with
the suffix "-er" (richer) or by "more" with an adverb (more richly). In Hebrew, it is expressed by various means (the
preposition @mi or the context); in Greek, by means of suffixes and certain particles. Heb: "God made...the greater
light...and the lesser light" (Gen. 1:16). Gk: After me will come one more powerful than I" (Mark 1:7).

COMPENSATORY LENGTHENING: The lengthening of a short vowel to make up for the loss of one or more
consonants. Heb: instead of doubling a consonant, a preceding vowel may be lengthened in the formation of the piel
stem before a, [, or r, e.g., hr:B, for hr:rBi. Gk: in the formation of the first aorist stem before l, n, or r, e.g., ejmeina for
ejmensa.

COMPOSITE SHEVA: A form of the sheva in the Hebrew language that normally appears with guttural letters. There
are three composite shevas: ?, >, and }. Also called compound sheva.

CONCORD: The grammatical harmony of person, gender, and number among parts of the sentence and among units of
discourse; also called agreement. Ex. a pronoun in Hebrew and Greek agrees with its antecedent in person, gender, and
number.

CONJUGATION: An orderly arrangement or listing of the inflected forms of a verb or verbal according to its person,
gender, number, tense, voice, and mode.

CONSTRUCT STATE: A word in Hebrew that is dependent on the following word for meaning and definiteness (also
for accent if the words are joined by a maqqeph); together they make up a compound state that is the equivalent of the
genitive in English or Greek. It is also called annexion. Heb: "God set them in the expanse of (construct) the sky" (Gen.
1:17).

DAGESH FORTE: A dot that may appear in all the Hebrew consonants except the gutturals. It doubles the consonant in
which it appears.

DAGESH LENE: A dot that appears only in the begad kephat letters in Hebrew (e.g. B). It affects the pronunciation by
giving the consonant in which it appears a hard sound.

DECLENSION: An orderly arrangement or listing of the inflection of a noun, pronoun, participle, or adjective
according to its case, person, gender, and number.

DEFECTIVE WRITING: When the vowel letter is omitted in Hebrew. Also called scriptio defectiva. Ex: the writing of
o for /.

DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVE: An adjective that points out particular persons, places, or things. There are two
types: near (this, these) and remote (that, those). The demonstrative adjective is also called a demonstrative pronoun.
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DENOMINATIVE: A noun or a verb derived from a noun or adjective stem. Heb: r[evo, "porter," from r[;v;, "gate";
Gk: grammateu", "scribe," from gramma, "letter." Also called denominal.

DIRECT OBJECT: The word, phrase, or clause that is the primary goal or result of the action of the verb (cf. accusative
case); the person or thing is directly affected by the action of the verb. Heb: "God created the heavens and the earth"
(Gen. 1:1). Gr: "He grabbed him and began to choke him" (Matt. 18:28).

DIRECTIVE h: An old accusative ending appended at the end of a word to indicate motion towards. E.g. hn:d" (towards
Dan).

DUAL NUMBER: A form denoting two persons or things. The dual suffix !yI "- occurs in a few Hebrew nouns, but the
Greek dual disappeared from use before the NT. Heb: !/y, "day," !yIm'/y, "two days."

ENERGIC NUN: A verbal form in Hebrew that is strengthened by the insertion of a connecting nun between the verbal
stem and the suffix. Also called nun energicum, nun demonstrativum, nun epentheticum, epenthetic nun.

EUPHONIC NUN: A nun placed at the end of a Hebrew word for pleasing sound or ease of pronunciation.

FULL VOWELS: In Hebrew, the vowels that correspond to a, e, i, o, u.

FULL WRITING: Another name for plena writing.

GENDER: Gender is distinction as to sex. Hebrew has only two classes of gender, masculine and feminine. When the
same form is used to express masculine and feminine, it is called common gender. Greek expresses masculine,
feminine, and neuter gender, as does English.

GENITIVE: The case that expresses possession or specifies a relationship that can be expressed in English by "of." In
Hebrew this is called a construct relationship. The Greek genitive is the specifying case answering the question "What
kind?" Heb: "the expanse of the sky" (Gen. 1:21). Gk: "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Mark 1:4).

GUTTURALS: The mute consonants whose sounds are produced when the front of the tongue approaches the palate of
the mouth. Four letters in Hebrew, a h j and [ are the guttural letters (r has some guttural characteristics). Hebrew
gutturals cannot be doubled, prefer a-class vowels, and composite shevas. In Greek, the guttural letters are g k and c also
called velars, laryngeals, or palatals.

HITHPAEL: A verbal form in Hebrew that expresses intensive or emphatic action (classified by some grammars as
causative action) and reflexive voice. For this emphasis in Greek, middle voice. Heb: "A group of adventurers gathered
around [lit., gathered themselves around] him" (Judg. 11:3).

HOLLOW VERB: In Hebrew, a biconsonantal root that has a long vowel ( y or w) between the two root consonants.
Also called ayin yod and ayin vav verbs. E.g. tWm and !yci

HOPHAL: A verbal form in Hebrew that expresses causative action and passive voice. Heb: "Let seven of his male
descendants be given [hophal] to us" (2 Sam. 21:6).

IMPERATIVE: A verb or verbal mood that expresses command or makes a request. Heb: "Give us water to drink"
(Exod. 17:2). Gk: "Give us each day our daily bread" (Luke 11:3).

IMPERFECT: In Hebrew, the form of the verb used to express action that is incomplete or unfinished. Heb: "What if
they do not believe me" (Exod. 4:1). The Greek imperfect tense expresses incomplete, linear action in past time. Gk:
"People were eating and drinking..." (Luke 17:28). Other regular uses of the tense include iterative, frequentative,
inceptive, and conative.

INFINITIVE: A verbal noun that has characteristics of both verbs and nouns. In English usually introduced by to.
Hebrew has both infinitive absolute and infinitive construct forms. Heb: "I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of
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the Chaldeans to give you this land" (Gen. 15:7). The Greek infinitive is used as a substantive, in subordinate clauses,
with prepositions, and in epexegesis. Gk: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Phil. 1:21).

INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE: A form of the Hebrew infinitive that may function in a number of ways: to express certainty
or intensification ("you will surely die," Gen. 2:17); to express repeated or continued action ("Be ever hearing," Isa.
6:9); as a finite verb ("They...broke the jars," Judg. 7:19); to express an emphatic imperative ("Remember the Sabbath
day," Exod. 20:8).

INFIX: An affix inserted within a root or stem instead of at the beginning (prefix) or at the end (suffix). A characteristic
of Semitic languages, where forms of the verb are indicated by infixes in the consonantal root, but not applicable to
Greek. Heb: energic nun is Ps. 50:23; the dagesh forte in the middle consonant of the intensive stems.

INTENSIVE STEM: A verbal form in Hebrew that intensifies or emphasizes the action of the verb. The three principal
intensive stems are piel, pual, and hithpael.

INTERROGATIVE PARTICLE: A word that introduces a question. Heb: among the more common interrogative
particles are ymi, "who?" hm; "what?" and h} (indicates a question).Gk: common interrogatives are ti", "who?" pw"
"how?"

JUSSIVE: Modal aspect of the verb with the same function as the cohortative, but ordinarily it appears in the second or
third person in Hebrew. The Greek jussive in the second or third person was little used, being replaced by the
imperative. Heb: "And God said, `Let there be light'" (Gen. 1:3).

KEMNEFAS LETTERS: A mnemonic device containing the Hebrew letters that have alternate final forms: k m n p x.

LEXICAL FORM: The entry form under which the meaning of a word will be found in a lexicon. Hebrew words are
listed according to root, usually the three radicals of the consonantal root. Greek nouns are listed according to
nominative, singular; verbs are listed according to present tense, indicative mood.

LINGUISTICS: The scientific study of language, developed as a discipline in the twentieth century; when the emphasis
is historical, the term is equivalent to the older term philology.

MAPPIQ: The dot found in the Hebrew letter h when it comes at the end of a word. E.g. H'/la> (God).

MAQQEPH: A hyphen-like line joining two Hebrew words. E. g. l/qAta,.

MASORETES: From Hebrew for "tradition." The Jewish scholars who added the vowel points to the Hebrew
consonantal text.

MASORETIC TEXT: The vocalized text of the Hebrew Bible, prepared by a group of Jewish scholars around A.D. 700
to preserve the oral pronunciation of the Hebrew words.

MATRES LECTIONIS: The letters (h w y) that represent vowels in an unpointed text of the Hebrew Bible. Also called
fulcra or vowel letters.

METATHESIS: The transposition or reversal of letters (often consonants), words, or sentences. Heb: cb,K, and bc,K,,
"lamb"; in the hithpael stem, when the first root letter of a verb is s, c or v, metathesis occurs with the t of the prefix,
e.g., rMet;v]hi instead of rMev;t]hi. Gk: failonh" and fainolh", "cloak."

METHEG: A small, perpendicular stroke written under a Hebrew consonant and to the left of the vowel to indicate the
secondary accent of a word, or the secondary accent of words joined with the maqqeph.

MIL`EL: In Hebrew, the accent on the next to the last syllable of a word; equals an accented penult in Greek.

MILRA`: In Hebrew, the accent on the last syllable of a word; equals an accented ultima in Greek.
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MODAL: A term that refers to some particular attitude (such as wish, possibility) toward the fulfillment of the action or
state predicted, whichmay be expressed by inflectional mood, auxiliary verbs, word order, etc. Heb: "God may yet
relent" (Jonah 3:9).

MODE: Another term for mood, although some grammarians distinguish the two (mood refers to the frame of mind in
which the statement is made, mode to the manner in which it is made). Mood is more commonly used by Greek
grammarians.

MOOD: Mood indicates the manner in which the action is conceived (or its relation to reality). Moods are indicative,
imperative, subjunctive, and optative. Mood may be expressed by finite verbs in Greek and by various means (form,
words, or context) in Hebrew. Mode.

MORPHEME: The minimal functioning unit in the composition of words; a basic element or form of a language that
shows grammatical relations, e.g., in English, an apostrophe and "s" to show possession. Morphemes are classified into
bound forms (such as affixes) and free forms that can occur as separate words. Heb: the l functioning as a prefixed
preposition "to/for." Gk: ejlue comprises three morphemes, the prefix e, the stem lu, and the suffix e.

MORPHOLOGY: A study of the forms (morphemes) that enter into the structure of words in a language. The phoneme
is the basic meaningful element of sound, the morpheme the basic meaningful element of form.

NIPHAL: A verbal form (stem) in Hebrew that expresses simple action and passive or reflexive voice. Heb: "She was
given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah" (1 Sam. 18:19).

NOMINAL SENTENCE: A sentence is nominal if the predicate does not contain a finite verb. Heb: "For the Lord is our
judge" (Isa. 33:22); there is no verb in the Hebrew. Commonly produced by elipsis in Greek.

NUMBER: In parsing of words in Greek or Hebrew, this term is used to show whether the word refers to one or more
than one person, place, or thing. In Hebrew there are three numbers: singular, plural, and dual; in Greek there are two:
singular and plural.

OPEN SYLLABLE: A syllable that ends in a vowel.

OPTATIVE MOOD: The mood of possibility and more doubtful assertion that expresses wish or desire. See also
jussive and cohortative. Heb: "If only we had died in Egypt!" (Num. 14:2). Gk: "Maythe Lord direct your hearts into
God's love and Christ's perseverance" (2 Thess. 3:5).

PALEOGRAPHY: The study of ancient writing as a means for dating and deciphering texts.

PARADIGM: An example or pattern of a conjugation or declension, showing a word in all its inflectional forms. In
form criticism, another name for apothegm.

PARAGOGIC: In Hebrew, the paragogic nun ending (@W-) is found instead of the usual plural ending (W-) over three
hundred times. There is also a paragogic h (also called emphatic h). Paragogic n and h usually express marked
emphasis; however, the paragogic nun may sometimes be used for euphony. Heb: "tremble" (Exod. 15:14; paragogic
nun).

PARSE/PARSING: A pedagogical exercise to aid in morphological analysis; to describe grammatically a part of speech
by listing its inflectional modifications and/or its syntactic relationships in the sentence. Heb: The verb rm'a; would be
parsed as qal, perfect, third person, masculine gender, and singular in number. Gk: the verb lusomen is future, active,
indicative, first, plural.

PARTICIPLE: A verbal form that has characteristics of both noun and verb. In Hebrew it represents characteristic,
continual, uninterrupted action. Heb: "The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters" (Gen. 1:2). The Greek participle
is widely used as a substantive, adjective, and adverb in phrases and clauses. Gk:"...in God, who raised him from the
dead and glorified him" (1 Peter 1:21).
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PARTICLE: A unit of speech that is ranked as an uninflected word but expresses some kind of syntactical relationship
or some general aspect of meaning. Some grammarians classify all conjunctions, prepositions, and negatives as
particles.

PASSIVE VOICE: A voice form of the verb that represents the subject as receiver of the action. Heb: "This land was
given to us as our possession" (Ezek. 11:15). Gk: "You were marked in him with a seal" (Eph. 1:13).

PAUSE: In Hebrew, the last word in a sentence (marked by an accent called a silluq), or the last word in the first major
division of a sentence (marked by an accent called an athnach), is said to be in pause.

PERFECT/PERFECT TENSE: In Hebrew, this form of the verb is used to express completed action, whether in reality
or in the thought of the speaker or writer. Heb: rm'v; is a perfect form of the verb and would be translated "he guarded."
The Greek perfect tense, by contrast, represents a state of completion with abiding results and is often translated as a
present perfect. Gk: The perfect leluke would be rendered "he has released."

PERSONAL ENDINGS: In Greek, the verb suffixes that indicate person and number; comparable to pronominal
suffixes in Hebrew.

PHILOLOGY: Traditional term for the study of language history; in the widest sense, the study of literature, also
linguistics; in classical usage, the study of ancient culture as revealed in history, language, art, literature, and religion.

PHONEME: The minimal unit of speech sound in a given language that distinguishes one utterance from another. Heb:
the h in hy:h;, "to be," and the j in hy:j;, "to live," distinguish these words from each other. Gk: the p is pw", "how," and
the f in fw", "light," distinguish these two words from each other.

PHONEMICS: Analysis of different sounds that affect meaning; the branch of linguistics that deals with phonemes.

PHONETICS: The science of speech sounds as elements of a language; the study of the characteristics of human
soundmaking.

PHONOLOGY: Deals with the phonemic and phonetic elements of a language; these elements roughly correspond to
the consonants and vowels. It also deals with accents, syllabification, consonantal and vocalic alterations, and similar
phenomena. It is that part of the grammar of a language that describes its sounds and sound changes.

PIEL: A verbal form in Hebrew that expresses intensive or emphatic action and active voice. Heb: "They destroyed the
high places and the altars" (2 Chron. 31:1).

PLENA: Latin for "full." When the originally long vowel is written with its vowel letters ( w y ), it is said to be written
fully, (plena writing). Also called full writing, scriptio, plena, or plene writing.

PLENE WRITING: Another name for plena writing.

POINTING: A term that refers to the vowels added by the Masoretes to the consonantal text of the OT (Hebrew was
originally written without vowels) in order to preserve the pronunciation of the language at a time when it was in danger
of being forgotten. It is also called dWKnI.

PREFIX: An inflectional affix; one or more letters or syllables placed at the beginning of a root or stem in Greek and
Hebrew that will modify its meaning. Also called a preformative. Heb: prefix n to form the niphal stem. Gk: the
reduplicated prefix to form the perfect tense.

PREFORMATIVE: Another term for prefix.

PREPOSITION: A word that shows relationships between its object and some other word in the sentence. Some
common English prepositions are in, to, from, with, above, for, by.
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PRETERITE: A Latin name for the past tense; it is the equivalent of the perfect in Hebrew and the aorist indicative in
Greek.

PRETONIC: The syllable immediately preceding the tone or tonic syllable, or the vowel that immediately precedes the
tonic syllable.

PRINCIPAL PARTS: The basic stems of a verb one must know in order to construct the remaining forms of its
conjugation. In Hebrew, the principal parts are the qal, piel, hiphil, niphal, and hithpael; in Greek, the present, future,
aorist, perfect, perfect middle, and aorist passive.

PRONOMINAL: A term used by some grammarians for pronoun, or that which is related to the pronoun. In Hebrew,
pronominal suffixes can be added to verbs, nouns, and particles.

PUAL: A verbal form in Hebrew that expresses intensive or emphatic action and passive voice. Heb: "There was Baal's
altar, demolished" (Judg. 6:28).

QAL: A verbal form in Hebrew that expresses simple action and active voice; it is sometimes spelled Kal. Ex:"Then
Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew" (Gen.25:34).

QUIESCENT LETTERS: In Hebrew, the letters a h w and y are so weak in pronunciation that under certain conditions
they lose their consonantal character and quiesce (that is, become silent). Heb: hd:Whyli, "to Judah," !yhil¿ale, "to
God."

RADICAL: That belonging to the root of a word, e.g., a primitive form that equals the root. In Hebrew, another name
for a basic root letter (or consonant) of a word.

REFLEXIVE VOICE: Denotes an action that is directed back upon the agent or subject; expressed in Hebrew by the
niphal and the hithpael, in Greek by the middle voice.Heb: "I have...kept myself from sin" (Ps. 18:23). Gk: "Then he
went away and hanged himself" (Matt. 27:5).

ROOT: That part of a word left when all affixes are removed; the morpheme that carries the minimal unit of meaning in
a word and can be common to several different words. The three consonants in Hebrew that ordinarily compose the
basic uninflected spelling of a word are called the root letters. Occasionally a Hebrew word may have two or four root
letters. Gk: the root dik- is common to dikaio", "righteous," dikh, "justice," and dikaiow, "to acquit." Also called
"Lexeme."

SEGHOLATE: In Hebrew, a term used of words that are characterized by the use of e vowels in spelling; these are
sometimes called second declension nouns. Heb: vp,n<, tm,a,, qd<x,, etc.

SEMANTICS: The science of the meaning of words. In biblical studies, especially the view that word meaning is not
simply a listing of independent items but a study of fields wherein words interrelate and define each other.

SEMITE/SEMITIC: A descendent of Shem, the son of Noah (Gen. 10:21-31). Included Babylonians, Assyrians, and
Arameans in ancient times, as well as Arabs and Jews.

SEMITISM: A word or construction derived from Hebrew or Aramaic, more specifically those features of the LXX and
the Greek NT that reflect the influence of Hebrew (Hebraism) or Aramaic (Aramaism).

SIBILANTS: The consonants that are characterized by the s sound. In Hebrew, the sibilants are z s x c and v; in Greek,
s. Sometimes called spirants.

SILLUQ: The Hebrew accent mark placed on the last word in a verse. See "Pause."

SIGN OF THE DEFINITE OBJECT: An untranslated sign that points to the object of the verb in Hebrew (ta,).
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STATIVE VERB, STATIC VERB: A stative verb is one that indicates a state of being or relationship rather than action.
In Hebrew, its vowel pattern is different from that of verbs of action or motion. Greek statives include eijmi, ginomai,
and uJparcw. Heb: "the hands...will be strengthened (2 Sam. 16:21). Gk: "Who, being in very nature God" (Phil. 2:6).

STEM: The noun or verb base formed by the addition of derivational affixes to the root. Thus, in Greek, doro- is the
stem of the noun doron, "gift"; do- is the root, ro is the affix (in this case, a suffix). Also called base in recent grammars.
In Hebrew, the term is used to designate verb forms that express certain kinds of action and voice; the major Hebrew
verbal stems are qal, niphal, piel, pual, hithpael, hiphil, and hophal.

STRONG VERB: In Hebrew, the regular verb whose stem consonants do not change, i.e., remain unmodified in
conjugation, in contrast to the weak verb. In Greek, a tense stem formed from the verb stem or root itself by vowel
gradation.

SUBSTANTIVE: Any part of speech that is used as a noun equivalent. Ex: an adjective, participle, or infinitive used as
the subject of a sentence, e.g., "to err is human."

SUFFIX: One or more syllables added to the end of a root or to a stem in Hebrew and Greek that will modify its
meaning. Also called an afformative or sufformative. Heb: pronominal suffixes added to the noun to indicate person,
gender, and number. Gk: suffix the to form the aorist passive.

SUFFORMATIVE: Another name for suffix.

SYLLABLE: A unit of pronunciation in a word. As a general rule, a Hebrew syllable begins with one consonant
followed by a vowel and may be closed by another consonant. A Hebrew word has as many syllables as full vowels. A
Greek word has as many syllables as vowels or diphthongs, divided on a pattern similar to English.

THEMATIC VOWEL: The vowel that characteristically appears with the second root letter of a Hebrew word; helpful
in the identification of certain verbal stems. In Greek, the final vowel of certain tense stems that varies between o and e
(lengthened to w and h in the subjunctive mood). Also called variable vowel.

TONE-LONG VOWEL: In Hebrew, a short vowel may become a long vowel under the influence of the accented (tone)
syllable. Also called heightening. Ex: !yIm;l; for !yIm'l; (Gen. 1:6).

TONE SYLLABLE, TONIC SYLLABLE: The syllable that receives the principal accent of the word in pronunciation.

TRILITERAL: The three consonants that form the root of most words in the Hebrew language.

UGARITIC: An ancient Semitic language, similar to Hebrew and Phoenician; the language spoken by the inhabitants of
Ugarit. This language is important for biblical studies because of the Ras Shamra documents that are written in Ugaritic.

UNPOINTED TEXT: The Hebrew text written only with consonants; the vowels were omitted in early Hebrew writing
and were added by the Masoretes.

VARIABLE VOWEL: Another name for thematic vowel.

VOICE: Voice is a modification of a verb that tells whether the subject of the verb acts or is acted upon. There are three
voices in English, Hebrew, and Greek: active, passive, and reflexive.

VOWEL: A speech sound made by not blocking the oral part of the breath passage. In Hebrew syllables a vowel always
follows a consonant, never precedes it (except for a furtive patach).

VOWEL GRADATION: A general process of inflection by means of the alteration of internal vowels in a stem, e.g.,
sink, sank, sunk. The graded change can be either quantitative (lengthening or shortening) or qualitative (changed in
nature). Heb: short a becomes i (a qualitative change) in closed, unaccented syllables: lfuq]y:, lfoq]yI. Gk: the tense
stems of leipw, "I leave," show qualitative change: leip- (present), -lip- (aorist), and -loip- (perfect).
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VOWEL LETTER: Matres Lectionis.

VOWEL POINTS: Pointing.

VAV CONJUNCTIVE: In Hebrew a simple connective conjunction ( wÒ ), usually translated as "and," but may also be
translated as "but," "yet," "when," "so," "for," "since," "that," "how," "therefore," "then." It is also called the light vav,
the simple vav, and the copulative vav.

VAV CONSECUTIVE: In Hebrew, a vav that may be prefixed to the perfect and imperfect forms of verbs; it will affect
the meaning of the verb. Earlier grammars called it the vav conversive; it is also referred to as the strong vav.

WEAK VERB: In Hebrew, the verbs with gutturals or weak letters ( n in first root position, y and w in first or second
root position, identical second and third root letters) as radicals, which produce modifications in the conjugation, in
contrast to the strong verb. In Greek, a tense stem formed by adding a suffix to the verb stem or root.

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