'Between' constructions in Biblical Hebrew
What it is about
English between takes a conjoined object ("between A and B"); Biblical Hebrew בֵּין does not. It takes one plural noun (117 of 274 full phrases), or repeats itself, בֵּין A וּבֵין B (126), or adds lə-, בֵּין A לְ־B (28); longer lists repeat בֵּין (Gen 9:12). Following Barr, the וּבֵין pattern mostly links concrete individuals and places (spatial, or reciprocal relations such as war or covenant), while the lə- pattern links abstract classes in acts of distinguishing ("between good and bad"). The paper explains why two PPs joined or adjoined mean the same as one PP over a conjoined object: the meaning of 'between' has the structure of a principal filter, so intersecting "between A" with "between B" gives "between {A, B}".
Ideas
- I1. In the trees, attach the second בֵּין phrase to the first as conj (for וּבֵין) or as a dependent of the first (for lə-), each with its own case marker; then let the world merge both objects into one collective argument {A, B}, so that the frame "covenant/war/separation between A and B" has a two-member set, not two separate locations.
- I2. Count the three patterns in the Torah (single plural object, וּבֵין, lə-) and the semantic class of each (spatial, reciprocal relation, distinction), as a table for the prepositions section.
- I3. Gloss rule: בֵּין A וּבֵין B and בֵּין A לְB → "between A and B"; a check against JPS 1917 that no "and between" survives in the English.
For Mova
I1 is a head-rule point for tools/macula (13-mova-tools.md §6) and a frame rule for the world; I2 and I3 go into Pronouns, particles and prepositions (prepositions) and 08-syntax.md (coordination).
Cite
@inproceedings{zwarts2021between,
title = {{'Between' constructions in Biblical Hebrew}},
author = {Zwarts, Joost},
booktitle = {Linguistics in the Netherlands},
year = {2021},
doi = {10.1075/avt.00055.zwa},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1075/avt.00055.zwa}
}References
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