Saturday, April 28, 2007

The Tiphil Stem of רגל (Hosea 11:3)

Rembrandt's Drawing of a Child Learning to Walk

My class has finished Hosea 11, but I thought I'd add a few brief postings here on the blog. Our 12-month old, Rebecca, is learning to walk, so verse 3 of Hosea 11 really resonates with my experience right now: "Yet it was I [God] who taught Ephraim to walk." (I am always intrigued reading this with the unique Tiphil Stem of the Hebrew verb רגל.). My colleague here at VTS, Peggy Parker, just gave me copies of some Rembrandt drawings of women teaching a toddler to walk. This one is from 1640, and is now in the British Museum. The holding of the wrists and the bending over is very true to life. Note the unique "crash helmet" that they have on the baby!

5 Comments:

Blogger Duane Smith said...

While not common or even certain, a similar stem may occur in Ugaritic. In one possible case it seems to be related in some way to walking. See the verbal noun tdrq in KTU 1.18 V:11 where the word seems to mean something like "gait." The very idea that there might be a "cognate" stem form without there being a cognate root is a little mind boggling and therefore it likely shouldn't be taken too seriously.

Sat Apr 28, 09:18:00 PM GMT-5  
Blogger S and C said...

Duane, fascinating. Thanks! --S.

Sun Apr 29, 05:56:00 AM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

how can i get a copy/print of this picture? I love it!

Wed Oct 29, 10:49:00 AM GMT-5  
Blogger S and C said...

Isn't it a great image? I think an artist friend of mine emailed it to me quite awhile back. If you find any versions of it in higher resolution available on the web, please let us know! Peace, ---SLC

Wed Oct 29, 12:58:00 PM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Tiphil stem adding our task to learn more about Hebrew. But only once it appears (Hos 11:3). Do you have any paradigm to differentiate all of Hebrew's stem used in the OT, Prof?

Mon Apr 28, 09:46:00 PM GMT-5  

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