Hebrew-specific Conventions

Terminology

Stems: Qal, Niphal, Piel, Pual, Hiphil, Hophal, Hithpael, etc.

Forms: suffix, prefix, sequential suffix, sequential prefix participle/ imperative/ jussive/ cohortative/ infinitive construct/ infinitive absolute (plural: infinitives absolute)

Transliteration

We are aiming at something simple to aid in pronunciation, not for scholarly purposes. SBL General is what we want to standardize on. Logos has a tool to do this automatically. If you don’t have access to Logos, ask Bram to do it.

Four-line Examples

Line 1: Hebrew with the term in question bolded

Line 2: Simple transliteration as described above

Line 3: Literal representation of Hebrew in the order of the Hebrew words, with meaning contained in individual words represented with English words connected by dashes. Necessary grammatical information can be given with abbreviations in capitals. This allows the reader to track the words with the meaning in the words.

Line 4: Smooth English translation

Examples:

וְהָאֹורֵ֡ב קָם֩ מְהֵרָ֨ה מִמְּקֹומֹ֤ו

weha’owrev qam meherah mimmeqowmow

and-the-lying-in-ambush stood quickly from-place-of-him

The soldiers hiding in ambush quickly rushed out of their place

וַיִּקַּ֣ח אָ֠סָא אֶת־כָּל־הַכֶּ֨סֶף וְהַזָּהָ֜ב

wayyiqqah ‘asa ‘eth-kol-hakkesef wehazzahav

and-he-took Asa [dir.obj]_all_the-silver and-the-gold

Then Asa took all the silver and gold

Grammatical notations for the literal line 3 of examples will use short abbreviations in lower case within square brackets, as above (e.g., [dir.obj]). Others that might possibly be needed would be: [masc], [fem], [sing], [pl], [dual], [?]. Others:

  • Affirmation particle = [affirm] (often translated)
  • Demonstrative particle = [dem] (usually translated)
  • Direct object marker = [dir.obj]
  • Exhortation particle = [exhort] (usually translated)
  • Negation particle = [neg] (usually translated)
  • Relative particle = should be translated rather than abbreviated
  • Interrogative particle = [quest]
  • Interjection particle = either translated or shown as “[interjection]”
  • Conditional particles should be translated rather than abbreviated
  • Discourse particles should be translated rather than abbreviated
  • Translate when possible, use abbreviation only if the word cannot be translated

Prototypical Uses of Particles

Below are listed the prototypical uses for major particles. The parsing team will parse according to this list, then later a smaller team will go through and change individual attestations for other uses based on context. This will keep the parsing team from getting bogged down with contextual analysis when trying to decide how to parse.

  • כִּי – conjunction
  • אִם – conjunction
  • אוֹ – conjunction
  • גַּם – affirmation particle
  • אַף – affirmation particle
  • רַק – affirmation particle
  • אַךְ – affirmation particle
  • עַתָּה – adverb
  • וְעַתָּה – conjunction
  • פֶּן – conjunction
  • לוּ – conjunction
  • נָא – exhortation particle
  • אָנָּא – exhortation particle
  • בִּי – exhortation particle (when not preposition with 1cs suffix)
  • הָהּ – interjection
  • הוֹ – interjection
  • הֶאָח – interjection
  • אִי – interjection
  • הִנֵּה – demonstrative particle
  • הֵן – demonstrative particle
  • כֵּן – demonstrative particle
  • לֹא – negative particle
  • אַל – negative particle
  • אַיִן – negative particle
  • בַּל – negative particle
  • בְּלִי – negative particle
  • בִּלְתִּי – conjunction
  • אָנָה – adverb
  • פֹּה – adverb
  • כֹּה – adverb
  • אַי – interrogative particle

Citations

  • There is no need to directly quote.
  • We should be careful not to lift groups of examples from any one grammar.
  • Citations are for the team, not the final product.
  • In the final product, there may be an acknowledgements page listing grammars consulted, but don’t do anything that would necessitate a citation.