{"title":"“She Gazed Through the Window”: Gender and Grammatical Voice in Ancient Hebrew","authors":"Vladimir Olivero","doi":"10.1163/15685330-bja10098","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\nThe verbs נִשְׁקַף and הִשְׁקִיף are usually both rendered into English as “to look down,” with no apparent difference in meaning despite their occurrence in the niphal and the hiphil, respectively. However, there seems to be a clear pattern in the choice between the two binyanim, which is determined by the gender of the person described. The author’s selection of either stem may give us a glimpse into the Weltanschauung of the biblical writers and their perception of how men and women acted in society and on the stage of life. In one interesting instance regarding queen Jezebel (2 Kgs 9:30), the regular linguistic pattern is reversed to further emphasise the stark contrast between her character and the usual way in which female characters are described in the Hebrew Bible. Paying attention to the general pattern also gives additional evidence in the question of the identity of the speaker in Prov 7:6.","PeriodicalId":46329,"journal":{"name":"VETUS TESTAMENTUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3000,"publicationDate":"2022-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"VETUS TESTAMENTUM","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685330-bja10098","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"RELIGION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The verbs נִשְׁקַף and הִשְׁקִיף are usually both rendered into English as “to look down,” with no apparent difference in meaning despite their occurrence in the niphal and the hiphil, respectively. However, there seems to be a clear pattern in the choice between the two binyanim, which is determined by the gender of the person described. The author’s selection of either stem may give us a glimpse into the Weltanschauung of the biblical writers and their perception of how men and women acted in society and on the stage of life. In one interesting instance regarding queen Jezebel (2 Kgs 9:30), the regular linguistic pattern is reversed to further emphasise the stark contrast between her character and the usual way in which female characters are described in the Hebrew Bible. Paying attention to the general pattern also gives additional evidence in the question of the identity of the speaker in Prov 7:6.
期刊介绍:
Vetus Testamentum is a leading journal covering all aspects of Old Testament study. It includes articles on history, literature, religion and theology, text, versions, language, and the bearing on the Old Testament of archaeology and the study of the Ancient Near East. ● Since 1951 generally recognized to be indispensable for scholarly work on the Old Testament. ● Articles of interest in English, French and German. ● Detailed book review section in every issue.