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Bible Lexicons
Gesenius Hebrew Grammer
Part 34
Rem. 1. The feminine form זֹאת has undoubtedly arisen from זָאת, by obscuring of an original â to ô (for זָא = זֶה cf. the Arab. hâ-ḏâ, this, masc.; for ת as the feminine ending, § 80), and the forms זֹה, זוֹ, both of which are rare,[3] are shortened from זֹאת. In Psalms 132:12 זוֹ is used as a relative, cf. זוּ below. In Jeremiah 26:6, Kethîbh, הַזּאֹתָה (with the article and the demonstrative termination ־ָה) is found for זֹאת. The forms אֵלֶּה and אֵל are the plurals of זֶה and זֹאת by usage, though not etymologically. The form אֵל occurs only in the Pentateuch (but not in the Samaritan text), Genesis 19:825, Genesis 26:34, &c. (8 times), always with the article, הָאֵל [as well as אֵלֶּה, הָאֵלֶּה frequently], and in 1 Chronicles 20:8 without the article [cf. Driver on Deuteronomy 4:42].[4] Both the singular and the plural may refer to things as well as persons.
2. In combination with prepositions to denote the oblique case we find לָזֶה to this (cf. for לָ, §102g), לְזֹאת, לָזֹאת to this (fem.), לְאֵ֫לֶּה, לָאֵ֫לֶּה to these; אֶת־זֶה hunc, אֶת־זֹאת hanc, אֶת־אֵ֫לֶּה hos, also without אֶת־, even before the verb Psalms 75:8, &c. Note also מְחִיר זֶה pretium huius (1 Kings 21:2), &c. 2. The secondary form זוּ occurs only in poetic style, and mostly for the relative, like our that for who [see Lexicon, s. v.]. Like אֲשֶׁר (§36), it serves for all numbers and genders.
Rem. 1. This pronoun takes the article (הַזֶּה, הַזֹּאת, הָאֵ֫לֶּה, הָאֵל) according to the same rule as adjectives, see §126u; e.g. הָאִישׁ הַזֶּה this man, but זֶה הָאִישׁ this is the man.
2. Rarer secondary forms, with strengthened demonstrative force, are הַלָּזֶה Genesis 24:65, Genesis 37:19; הַלֵּ֫זוּ fem. Ezekiel 36:35; and shortened הַלָּז, sometimes masc., as in Judges 6:20, 1 Samuel 17:26, 2 Kings 23:17, Zechariah 2:8, Daniel 8:16, sometimes fem., 2 Kings 4:25: cf. 1 Samuel 14:1 [and 1 Samuel 20:19 LXX; see Commentaries and Kittel].
3. The personal pronouns of the 3rd person also often have a demonstrative sense, see §136.
- ↑ In many languages the demonstratives begin with a d-sound (hence called the demonstrative sound) which, however, sometimes interchanges with a sibilant. Cf. Aram. דֵּן, דֵּךְ masc., דָּא, דָּךְ fem. (this); Sansk. sa, sā, tat; Gothic sa, sô, thata; Germ. da, der, die, das; and Eng. the, this, that, &c. Cf. J. Barth, ‘Zum semit. Demonstr. ḏ,’ in ZDMG. 59, 159 ff., and 633 ff.; Sprachwiss. Untersuchungen zum Semit., Lpz. 1907, p. 30 ff. [See the Lexicon, s. v. זֶה, and Aram. דא, די.]
- ↑ That זֶה may stand for the feminine, cannot be proved either from Judges 16:28 or from the certainly corrupt passage in Joshua 2:17.
- ↑ זֹה 2 Kings 6:19, and in seven other places; זוֹ only in Hosea 7:16, Psalms 132:12.
- ↑ According to Kuenen (cf. above, §2n) and Driver, on Lev Deuteronomy 18:27 in Haupt’s Bible, this אֵל is due to an error of the punctuators. It goes back to a time when the vowel of the second syllable was not yet indicated by a vowel letter, and later copyists wrongly omitted the addition of the ה. In Phoenician also it was written אל, but pronounced ily according to Plautus, Poen, v, 1, 9.
