Some Oddities of Ancient Hebrew Numeral Syntax

Abstract

Abstract:This study considers two oddities of the syntax of Ancient Hebrew cardinal numerals: first, numerals participate to greater or lesser extent—depending on the numeral—in both adjectival and nominal syntax; second, some nouns appear in the singular when quantified by numerals with the value eleven or higher, though there are exceptions with the very same nouns. Are numerals adjectives or nouns, and why does each numeral behave in different ways? Numerals in Hebrew—as in most or all languages—are properties of sets, and as such they behave both like adjectives and like nouns. Their underlying semantics result in a diversity of morpho-syntactic and syntactic features. Why do some nouns usually appear in the singular with numerals eleven and higher, and why are there exceptions? The use of the singular with numerals eleven and higher is a feature from older Hebrew. In our extant evidence, it is found only with high-use phrases, where the older feature is preserved. Exceptions arise because old features sometimes occur even after they are replaced, because high use phrases—not high use nouns—preserve the earlier feature, and because the structure of complex adding numerals sometimes precludes analysis of the noun as quantified by the entire adding numeral.