Reclaiming the Text-grammar of Harald Weinrich and the Syntax of Genesis 24

Abstract

We are approaching the 50-year mark since Wolfgang Schneider wrote a brief chapter on Hebrew syntax (in his Grammatik des biblischen Hebräisch [1974]) based on the text-linguistic method of Harald Weinrich (Tempus [1964]). This contribution offers reflections on this often-neglected linguist, and extends a recently proposed way of looking at the syntax of Biblical Hebrew, starting from a re-examination of Weinrich’s linguistic principles. A text-linguistic analysis of the wayyiqtol, xqatal, and xparticiple as evident in the indirect speech of Genesis 24 is presented. This contribution brings to the fore the relevance of Weinrich’s text-grammar for the study of Biblical Hebrew and the connection between Weinrich and Lucien Tesnière (dependency grammar).