Biblical Hebrew Tenses and Saadya Gaon's Translation of the Pentateuch

This paper examines tenses in Saadya Gaon's translation of the Pentateuch from two viewpoints: the reflection of Biblical Hebrew tenses in Saadya's Post-Classical Arabic, and how much of the whole range of Arabic tenses, especially complex tenses, is manifested in this language. These two aspects are examined according to four versions of the translation: Ms. St. Petersburg, Derenbourg edition, Hasīd edition, and the London Polyglot. Alongside the more obvious translations ofpast and future Saadya Gaon's translation reveals sensitivity to aspectual nuances like past perfect, present perfect, or continuous past, and inasmuch as can be observed in the translation, also to certain modal nuances. Attuned as he is to the great range of the Biblical Hebrew tenses, including their special nuances, Saadya exploits surprisingly little the variety of complex tenses involving an auxiliary verb available in Classical, Post Classical, and Middle Arabic for expressing broader nuances of time and aspect.