262 Charles C. Torrey, 



The root ^2^^ is found elsewhere only in Arabic, in the verb tX^^, 

 imperf. tX*^- This is said by the native lexicographers to be a syno- 

 nym of ojo " to be sure, firmly established." » The verbal noun T(yi 

 is the customary old form, like j^tOI? (2 : 14) from ^i?i, *Xl2n (KttH, 



3 : 19 ; X^rjL 3 = 13) from Dn% *r\X^ {r\T\V^^ 6 : 19) from '|t:?\ etc!^ 

 The shortening of the initial vowel is a well known practice, both in 

 Aramaic (notice the forms of XlSri- above ; one in the verse immediately 

 preceding !) and in Hebrew (n*l"lD in Gen. 46 : 3). And, following the 

 usual tendency, Xli^Ll was pronounced Kliiin- The massoretic pointing 

 is, as usual, based on a genuine old tradition. Everytliing about the 

 word is perfectly regular, and both form and meaning suit the context 

 exactly. Nor is any other treatment of the word possible, while the 

 text is left unaltered. 



3 : 16. I have no doubt that in the original text of this verse the 

 words SSbtt and ^2t3*lD123 were transposed. " They answered and 

 said to Nebuchadnezzar, O king, we have no need to answer thee in 

 this matter " (cf. vs. 9, etc.). They would not have been represented 

 as addressing the king by his name. 



3 : 16 7^nt^n> The pointing of this word with short a in the first 

 syllable does not mean at all that it was regarded " as an adjective " 

 (Marti) ; it is simply an instance of the (later) popular pronunciation of 

 certain words and forms which originally contained the vowel a. The 

 massoretic tradition has given us, sporadically and quite inconsistently, 

 a good many examples of this sort. Such are rililj Dan. 2 : 25, Ezr. 



4 : 24, 5 : 5 ; rinXS, Dan. 2 : 34 f. ; ri^i:3, Dan. 4 : 19 ; riOI?, Dan. 5 : 10 ; 



* We know only a small part of the vocabulary of the Aramaic speech, 

 and we are very far from being acquainted with all the roots which were 

 in common use in the other North-Semitic languages. I have shown, for 

 instance [OT. and Se?n. Studies in memory of W. R. Harper^ ii, 79, note ; Ezra 

 Studies, p. 85), how the old Greek version of Dan. 2:5, 3 : 29 and of Ezr. 

 6: 11, bears sure testimony to the existence of a Syro-Palestinian verb '^'13, 

 "take, obtain"; a root which (aside from the last line of the Tabnit in- 

 scription, where it has remained unrecognized) is known elsewhere only in 

 Arabic. 



* The use of this class of verbal nouns was already vanishing from the 

 Aramaic speech. See Noldeke, Manddische Grammatik, p. Ill, and notes 3 and 

 4. " Nur das Bibl. Aram, gebraucht die in ihm vorkommenden Bildungen 

 dieser Art ganz nach der urspriinglichen Weise." 



* The word J^^";, Dan. 4 : 19 (qerl), is not an example of the kind ; see 

 the note there. 



