Today linguist Mark Liberman asks in a blog post: Is "singular they" verbally and plenarily inspired of God? Mark's question was inspired(?!) by yesterday's post by Steg, Where do we find a Torah source for "Singular They".
It's an interesting question to ponder, especially given the attacks by those who believe in verbal, plenary inspiration upon the TNIV for using singular "they."
I have found a number of instances in the original biblical languages where a grammatical plural has singular reference. That is a kind of singular "they" found in original biblical texts themselves. Unfortunately, my work load is so great right now that I cannot list those verses and blog about them But maybe this much will whet your appetite to come back and keep checking for when I might have time to work in a post on singular "they" in the biblical languages.
Hmm, should we ask if there was a feminist agenda at work that caused those grammatical plurals with singular reference to occur in the original biblical texts? Nah, I don't think so! Not even when we know that the spirit mentioned in the Hebrew Bible who inspired the biblical authors to write was grammatically feminine.
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ReplyDeleteAnon wrote: Understanding these apparent "grammatical errors" is the beginning of an important form of exegesis.
ReplyDeleteSo while we're on grammar and Deuteronomy 17:5....
MT: אֶל־שְׁעָרֶיךָ
KJV: unto thy gates
NIV: to your city gate (sg)
ESV: to your gates
So does that mean the unfortunate idolater gets quartered before they :) are stoned with stones?
On the construction in question in v. 5, however, cf. also 17:2.
Joüon-Muraoka §§ 148-152 is worth meditating on in this connection. The candor at § 150b is noteworthy: "In the 3d person, the agreement of the verb presents a very large number of anomalies." :)
There is much of grammatical interest in the Deut 17:2-5 pericope. The various handlings of וְהֻגַּד־לְךָ וְשָׁמָעְתָּ וְדָרַשְׁתָּ in v. 4 caught my eye:
NIV: and this has been brought to your attention, then you must investigate...
KJV: And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired...
ESV: and it is told you and you hear of it, then you shall inquire...
NIV blends the first two verbs -- but should it, in a legal formulation? The implication in the KJV/ESV is that the hearing is simply consequent on the telling. Both NIV and ESV make the subsequent investigation an outcome, not simply the next phase of a sequence (as in KJV). The NJPS Tanak catches (what to my mind are) the appropriate nuances here:
"and you have been informed or have learned of it, then you shall make ... inquiry".
[emphasis added] That is, the first two verbs are alternate scenarios, thus the waw here carries the sense of "or" (cf. the comments of Waltke-O'Connor, p. 648 n. 2 on ו [waw] v. אֹו in BH), while the next waw is rightly rendered as "then".
Anyway, interesting stuff!
David Reimer
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ReplyDeleteSingular 'they' in the newer dialects of English that have it as a regular feature nowadays, does not take a 'has' but a 'have'. It's a singular 'have' as well. So why couldn't we expect the same thing in the KJV?
ReplyDelete