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Sometimes feminines plural take an additional plural ending. So in Hebrew and Arabic; comp. Heb. Gram. § 327. 5.

life,

Some nouns occur only in the plural; as heaven; especially those which designate the different ages of life; as y youth, though some of these occur in the singular, with the termination n. Others occur in the singular only; e. g. the names of the metals, gold, iron, silver. But 72 occurs in the sense of pieces of silver, Gen. 42: 25.

$29. States of Nouns.

1. Besides the absolute and construct, which occur in Hebrew, nouns in Chaldee have also the emphatic state, in which they originally corresponded, in sense, to nouns in Hebrew with the article.* It has however come into use, in many cases, where the sense does not require the definite article. In Syriac, this liberty has been much more extensively taken.

Note. The indefinite article is expressed, either simply by the absolute state, or by the numeral one; e. g. Dan. 2: 31. 6: 18. Ez. 4: 8. 2. Construct State. Characteristic terminations.

a. Masculines plural change 7 into. The termination of the construct state of masc. nouns in the sing. does not differ from that of the absolute state.

b. Feminines in — (7) change these endings into in the sing., into in the plur. const. Feminines in ħ and "— resume their original ♫ in the const. sing., and in the plur. change 77 and into ♫ and ♫. 3. The emphatic state is characterised, in both genders and both numbers, by the ending . (Masculines in *—, which take ‚ in the emphatic state, constitute the only exception).

a. To masculines singular (except such as terminate in N or "—), this termination is directly added; e. g. Did a horse, No the horse; masculines in substitute the letter for their final syllable, and those change this ending into ; e. g. Nha,

which end in

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b. Feminines in N change N in the emph. sing. into ; e. g. N2,

Malte Brun

* So in Danish, Landene, the countries, from Lande, countries. Rask Danish Grammar, p. 14. Also in Albanian, Gour, stone; Gouri, the stone. Univ. Geog. vol. VI. p. 201.

30. DECLENSION OF NOUNS.

55.

emph. &77272; finally those in and appear in the emph. state with

,קַדְמָאָה .e. g ;יְת change this ending into אָה those in : מַלְכְּתָא .emph

. מַלְכּוּתָא .e. g ;בית and וּת their original full endings

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c. In the plural, the masc. endings 7 and 7 are changed into

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(from sing. " ) becomes "; as 1272, emph.

d. In feminines plur., the emphatic state is formed by adding

to the construct; e.g.

nate in the sing. in

2, N2, n. But such as termi

(from masculines in ") resume here their

. קַדְמָאָה from קַדְמָיָתָא .original ; e. g

4. Before suffixes [in the suffix state], nouns exhibit the following modifications.

a. Derivative masc. nouns in " change this ending into N before suff.; as from "; those in N, (from verbs ) change this termination into moveable; as

from

.

b. All masc. plur. nouns drop the ending 77– (7–) and then take the suff. of nouns plural.

in

c. Feminines in N

; those in and
; those in

change N into in the sing.; as n from

take the construct form before suffixes; as (radical) change this ending to n; and those

(from masc. in _—) resume their original; e. g. YAIR · d. In the fem. pl., suffixes are appended to the construct state; e.g.

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Since no vowels are dropped, except those of the final syllable of ground forms, (comp. § 7. c.), and since changes

of any kind are less frequent than in Hebrew, (the first vowel of the ground form remaining throughout invariable, except in monosyllables and segholate forms), fewer modes of declension would naturally be expected, than appear Hebrew. Accordingly we reckon in Chaldee nine declensions, six of masculine, and three of feminine nouns.

in

$31. First Declension.

The first declension includes all nouns which have all their vowels immutable. It comprehends,

(a) Nouns which have "—, —, ʼn or ʼn before their final consonant; as a fish, a day, a head, "p

near.

In a few nouns which would seem to belong to (a), the quiescents are treated as fulcra. Such belong to Dec. IV. e.g. Num. 25: 15. Pseu

do-Jon. instead of 28.

(b) Nouns which have

good, a thief.

5

in their final syllable; as

Note 1. Nouns with in the ultimate are chiefly of six classes. (1) Nouns derived from verbs i; e. g. bp,, (Heb. bip, bib); (2) Nouns of the form and, thy, (Heb. □iby);

(3) Nouns of the form bp, (Arabic, Heb. with impure); (4) Nouns like bep, (Heb. with – pure), and bop. ;

(5) Nouns which have the formative ending; as 1 (Arab. 3); and

(6) Nouns of the form buip; as ¬xin, TḤi>.

The first three of these classes retain — in all the inflections, and consequently belong regularly to Dec. I.

=

Nouns of the fourth, fifth, and sixth classes sometimes take – instead of ➡ in the construct sing., and before the suff. ¡iɔ and jin. Elsewhere the is retained. The punctuation of these nouns is however variable; and as they present no other irregularity, and are not very numerous, they may better be regarded as exceptions from Dec. I. than as forming a separate declension.

Note 2. There are also a few nouns, (principally of the form biop), having Qamets in the penultimate, which are sometimes varied according to the first declension, but sometimes drop their penultimate vowel, out of the absol. sing.

32. Second declension.

The second declension includes nouns with final or either monosyllabic, or having the preceding vowels immutable; as 71, D, C, E. This – or — is drop

33. NOUNS; THIRD DECLENSION.

57

ped before pronominal suffixes or formative syllables, beginning with a vowel.

Note 1. Form with a guttural, with suffix Job 28: 26. Note 2. Forms like (shortened into ) from 3, 1st part. Peal, e. g. 72 Gen. 3: 5. etc. are to be set down to the account of irregular punctuation. Analogy requires 7.

Note 3. In this declension may be reckoned, emph. 17, etc. as if from E.

9

Note 4. Before 75 and jin, monosyllables, as in Hebrew, take ore. g. 727 Zeph. 1: 17. 77 Isaiah 1: 15.

The form 7 from Ezek. 27: 2. is peculiar.

$33. Third Declension.

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This declension corresponds with the sixth in Hebrew according to Prof. Stuart's arrangement, and includes all nouns which correspond to the Segholate forms in Hebrew. They may be written in Chaldee, as in Hebrew, either with two vowels, the second of which is always considered a furtive vowel as 2, (these forms almost exclusively in the biblical Chaldee), 2, (p); or with only one vowel, which belongs between the last two consonants; 22,750. They are inflected, for the most part, as in Hebrew. But,

as

a. In the Plural absol. the forms and become, as they do in most other inflections, and

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b. The form

sometimes follows the analogy of Hebrew; as

Dan. 2: 37; sometimes takes; as n Ez. 5:8. Very rarely, Hholem is retained; as, Isa. 53: 2.

c. In a few cases the of the form n remains moveable in its inflections; e. g. Ez. 5: 3. my Sol. S. 4: 8.

d. Nouns of the forms and in the course of inflection, generally take or under their first radical, according to the paradigm. ,,, and some others take. Comp. Dan. 4: 6. 5: 12. Gen. 32: 16. Isa. 53: 2. Nouns having gutturals for their first or by,

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-עַבְדָּא, עֲבֵד ;טַעֲמָא, טְעֵם second radical, naturally take -; as

e. Participles Ithpeel, with a few nouns, not properly Segholates, follow the analogy of this declension; e. g. bp, inflected precisely

like

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34. Fourth Declension.

"

The fourth declension includes all nouns which double the final consonant when they receive accession. They are mostly monosyllables derived from verbs. The long vowels and (for the most part) are exchanged in the course of inflection for the corresponding short vowels. In some nouns becomes; as, NOD; TE, NTS Ex. 19:23.

a, 7

35 has in the emph. st.

Dan. 7: 9.

3 etc. with the tone on the penultimate; but with suff. which draw the tone forward, i Dan. 2: 38. 7: 19.

35. Fifth Declension.

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The fifth declension includes nouns, participles, and infinitives, derived from verbs and terminating in N, ","or"; as The generally appears, in the course of declension, as the third radical, displacing the substituted in forms like .

The termination of the plural absolute is sometimes contracted into. More rarely it follows the Hebrew analogy, and terminates in ; as Job 1:13. Lam. 1: 3. Sometimes, perhaps by mistake of transcribers, it is pointed ; as 1 Dan. 7: 3. Gen. 3: 15. Jeru. Tar

gum, where the connexion decides that these forms are masculine. In the const. and emph. plural, no trace of the radical remains.

Note 1. Peculiar forms of this declension. Pl. with suff. 777772 Is. 10: 2.- Plur." Lev. 19: 10.- Pl. Deut. 6: 3. Jer. Targ.

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Pl. 7 Ruth 2: 21.

Note 2. Infinitives Peal of verbs are sometimes regularly inflected in this declension. Comp. Dan. 4: 23. 2 Sam. 13: 6. Ez. 5: 9. But sometimes the & is dropped; as

1 K. 18: 16.

2 Sam.

.2 :23 .Gen מִבְכָּה .3 :3 .Josh מֶחְזֵיכוֹן .5 :13

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