Glossary

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2-1-2 adjective

An adjective that uses second declension endings for masculine and neuter and first declension endings for feminine, such as ἀγαθός, ἀγαθή, ἀγαθόν. Intro to Classical Greek: Adjectives and Pronouns

A

Absolute state

The ordinary dictionary form of a noun, standing on its own: דָּבָר word, תּוֹרָה law. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Nouns: Gender, Number and the Construct State

Accusative subject

The subject of an infinitive, which Greek puts in the accusative case: φησὶ τὸν ἵππον μέγαν εἶναι, 'he says (that) the horse is big.' Intro to Classical Greek: Infinitives and Indirect Statement

Active participle

The participle for the doer: שֹׁמֵר, keeping, the one who keeps, keeper. It shows ongoing or characteristic action and takes its time from context. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Participles and Infinitives

Adjective

A word that describes a noun, such as good, just, beautiful. In Greek it agrees with its noun in gender, number and case. Intro to Classical Greek: Adjectives and Pronouns

Agent

The person who actually performs the action of a passive verb. In Greek, usually ὑπό with the genitive. Intro to Classical Greek: The Present Middle and Passive

Agreement

The rule that words belonging together share the same gender, number and case, so the reader can tell which words go with which. Intro to Classical Greek: The Article and Agreement

Matching in form. Hebrew adjectives match their nouns in gender and number, and attributive adjectives also match in definiteness. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Adjectives and Demonstratives

Alphabet

A writing system in which letters stand for single sounds. The word comes from the first two Greek letter names, alpha and beta. Intro to Classical Greek: The Alphabet and Handwriting

Aorist

The Greek tense that presents an action as a single whole event, a snapshot. In the indicative it refers to the past: 'I loosed.' Intro to Classical Greek: The Aorist

Article

הַ 'the,' written as a prefix with a dagesh forte in the next letter: הַמַּיִם 'the water.' Hebrew has no word for 'a.' Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Article, the Conjunction and the Prepositions

Articular infinitive

An infinitive with the neuter article (τό, τοῦ, τῷ), used as a noun: 'the speaking,' 'of speaking.' Intro to Classical Greek: Infinitives and Indirect Statement

Ashkenazi

The tradition of the Jews of central and eastern Europe. It says qamets as o, tav without dagesh as s, and tsere as ei, and it often stresses the next-to-last syllable. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Pronunciation

Aspect

The way a verb presents an action: ongoing (present, imperfect), simple and whole (aorist), or completed with a lasting result (perfect). Intro to Classical Greek: The Aorist

Aspirated stop

A consonant made by stopping the air and releasing it with a puff of breath, like the t in English 'top.' Classical θ, φ and χ were aspirated t, p and k. Intro to Classical Greek: Pronunciation: Restored Attic, Erasmian and Modern

Aspiration

Adding a puff of breath. Before a rough breathing, elided π, τ, κ become φ, θ, χ: ἀφʼ, καθʼ. Intro to Classical Greek: Prepositions

Assimilation

A consonant becoming like its neighbor, shown by dagesh forte: the Niphal נ in יִקָּטֵל, or the Hithpael ת in הִטַּהֲרוּ. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Derived Stems

Attic reduplication

A special reduplication for some verbs starting with a vowel, which repeats the vowel and consonant: ἀκούω, ἀκήκοα; ἔρχομαι, ἐλήλυθα. Intro to Classical Greek: The Perfect and Pluperfect

Attributive adjective

An adjective that describes a noun inside a phrase: 'the good man.' In Hebrew it follows the noun and agrees with it in gender, number and definiteness: הָאִישׁ הַטּוֹב. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Adjectives and Demonstratives

Attributive participle

A participle used like an ordinary adjective, usually with the article: ὁ λύων ἀνήρ 'the man who is loosing.' With no noun, it acts as a noun. Intro to Classical Greek: Participles

Attributive position

The slot between an article and its noun (or right after a repeated article). Anything placed there describes the noun. Intro to Classical Greek: The Article and Agreement

An adjective inside the article-noun group (ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἵππος). It describes the noun: the good horse. Intro to Classical Greek: Adjectives and Pronouns

Augment

A mark added to the front of a verb to show past time in the indicative: an extra ε- before a consonant, or a lengthened first vowel. Intro to Classical Greek: The Imperfect and the Future

B

BDB

Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906). The standard older English lexicon, now in the public domain. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Using a Lexicon and Reading Aids

Binyan (plural binyanim)

A verb stem: Qal, Niphal, Piel, Pual, Hiphil, Hophal, Hithpael. Each pairs the root with a pattern of vowels and affixes and a kind of meaning. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Review and Next Steps

Breathing

A mark over a word's first vowel or ρ. The rough breathing ῾ means an h sound comes first; the smooth breathing ᾿ means no h. Intro to Classical Greek: Breathings, Accents and Punctuation

C

Cardinal number

A counting number: one, two, three. Ordinals are the ranking numbers: first, second, third. Intro to Classical Greek: Greetings and Classroom Phrases

A counting number: one, two, three (אֶחָד, שְׁנַיִם, שְׁלֹשָׁה). Intro to Classical Hebrew: Numbers, Dates and Time

Case

A form of a noun, pronoun or adjective that shows its job in the sentence, such as subject, object or possessor. Greek shows case with endings. Intro to Classical Greek: The Cases and What They Do

Circumstantial participle

A participle without the article that adds the circumstances of the main action: when, since, although, while, if. Intro to Classical Greek: Participles

Citation

A reference inside a dictionary entry to a passage where the word is used, usually abbreviated: X.An.1.1.1 means Xenophon, Anabasis book 1, chapter 1, section 1. Intro to Classical Greek: Using a Lexicon and Reading Aids

Closed syllable

A syllable that ends in a consonant, such as מִשְׁ in מִשְׁפָּט. Unstressed closed syllables tend to have short vowels. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Syllables, Stress and Reading Aloud

Cohortative

The first person volitive: let me, let us. Usually marked by the ending ָה on the imperfect: אֶקְטְלָה, let me kill; נִקְטְלָה, let us kill. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Imperative, Jussive and Cohortative

Collective noun

A singular noun that means a group: צֹאן flock, sheep; עוֹף birds, flying things (Genesis 1:20). Intro to Classical Hebrew: Nouns: Gender, Number and the Construct State

Colon

One line of a poetic verse. Two lines make a bicolon, three a tricolon. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Readings: Genesis, Ruth, Jonah, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Micah, Ecclesiastes

Commentary

An edition of a Greek text with notes on grammar, vocabulary and meaning, usually line by line. The standard bridge from a course to real authors. Intro to Classical Greek: Review and Next Steps

Comparative מִן

The preposition מִן after an adjective, meaning 'than': טוֹב ... מִן 'better than.' Intro to Classical Hebrew: Adjectives and Demonstratives

Compensatory lengthening

When a letter that should be doubled cannot take a dagesh (א, ע, ר), the vowel before it lengthens to make up for it: הַ becomes הָ in הָאָרֶץ. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Article, the Conjunction and the Prepositions

Complementary infinitive

An infinitive that completes the meaning of another verb, as in 'I want to learn' or 'I am able to speak.' Intro to Classical Greek: Infinitives and Indirect Statement

Composition

Writing your own Greek, as opposed to translating out of it. The fastest way to find out what you really know. Intro to Classical Greek: Conversation and Composition

Writing your own Hebrew, as opposed to translating out of it. The quickest way to find out what you really know. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Conversation and Composition

Compound verb

A verb with a preposition fused to its front, such as ἐκβάλλω, throw out, or εἰσέρχομαι, go in. Intro to Classical Greek: Prepositions

Conjugation

The full set of forms of a verb, changing for person, number, tense, mood and voice. To conjugate is to recite those forms. Intro to Classical Greek: The Present Active Indicative and εἰμί

In Hebrew grammar, the form class of a verb: perfect, imperfect, imperative, infinitive or participle, plus the waw-consecutive forms. Some books call these tenses or aspects. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Roots, the Seven Stems (Binyanim) and the Qal

Consonant

A sound made by closing or narrowing the mouth somewhere, such as b, t, s or k. Intro to Classical Greek: The Alphabet and Handwriting

Consonantal script

A writing system whose letters stand for consonants, with vowels left for the reader to supply. Hebrew was written this way for centuries before vowel points were added (lesson 2). Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Alphabet and Handwriting

Construct chain

Two or more nouns in a row, all but the last in the construct state: יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיֵּי אֲבֹתַי 'the days of the years of the life of my fathers.' Intro to Classical Hebrew: Nouns: Gender, Number and the Construct State

Construct number

A number in the construct state, bound to the noun it counts: שִׁבְעַת יָמִים 'a seven of days,' that is, seven days. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Numbers, Dates and Time

Construct state (smikhut)

The form a noun takes when it is bound to a following noun to mean 'X of Y': דְּבַר יְהוָה 'the word of the LORD.' Hebrew סְמִיכוּת, 'leaning.' Intro to Classical Hebrew: Nouns: Gender, Number and the Construct State

Correlatives

Sets of related words built on the same root for asking, answering and pointing: ποῦ where?, που somewhere, ὅπου where (in a clause), ἐκεῖ there. Intro to Classical Greek: Conversation and Composition

Cursive

The joined-up everyday handwriting used in Israel today. Classical texts are printed in square script; cursive is for notes, letters and the board in class. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Alphabet and Handwriting

D

Dactylic hexameter

The meter of Homer: six feet per line, each a dactyl (long short short) or a spondee (long long), with the last foot always two syllables. Intro to Classical Greek: Readings: Aesop, Xenophon, Plato, Homer

Dagesh

A dot inside a letter. Dagesh lene makes ב ג ד כ פ ת hard; dagesh forte doubles the letter. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Vowel Points, Shewa and Dagesh

Declension

A family of nouns that share one set of endings. Greek has three. Also the act of listing all of a noun's forms. Intro to Classical Greek: Nouns: Gender, Number, and the First and Second Declensions

A family of nouns that share the same set of case endings. Greek has three. Intro to Classical Greek: The Third Declension

Definite article

The word for the in English. Greek has one, ὁ ἡ τό, with different forms for each gender, number and case. Greek has no word for a or an. Intro to Classical Greek: The Article and Agreement

Demonstrative

A pointing pronoun or adjective: this (οὗτος), that (ἐκεῖνος). Intro to Classical Greek: Adjectives and Pronouns

A pointing word: זֶה, זֹאת this; אֵלֶּה these. For 'that, those' Hebrew uses the pronouns הוּא, הִיא, הֵם, הֵנָּה with the article. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Adjectives and Demonstratives

Demotic

Spoken modern Greek, declared the official language of Greece in 1976 in place of the older learned Katharevousa. Intro to Classical Greek: Review and Next Steps

Deponent

A verb that has only middle or passive forms in a tense but translates as active, such as βούλομαι, I want. Intro to Classical Greek: The Present Middle and Passive

Descender

The part of a handwritten or printed letter that hangs below the line, as in Greek β, γ, ζ, η, μ, ξ, ρ, ς, φ, χ and ψ. Intro to Classical Greek: The Alphabet and Handwriting

Diphthong

Two vowel sounds said together in one syllable, gliding from one to the other, as in English 'high' or 'boy.' Intro to Classical Greek: Pronunciation: Restored Attic, Erasmian and Modern

Direct object

The person or thing that receives the action of the verb directly: in 'Dana sees the horse,' the horse. In Greek it is usually in the accusative. Intro to Classical Greek: The Cases and What They Do

Direct speech

The exact words of a speaker, introduced in classical Hebrew by וַיֹּאמֶר or by לֵאמֹר 'saying.' Hebrew has no quotation marks. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Conversation and Composition

Discourse marker

A word that organizes a text rather than adding content, such as וַיְהִי 'and it happened' at the start of an episode. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Clauses and Word Order

Disjunctive clause

A clause that starts with וְ plus a non-verb (usually the subject), stepping outside the narrative chain to give background, contrast, a simultaneous action or a flashback. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Clauses and Word Order

A clause that starts with waw plus a noun instead of a verb, used for background, contrast or a new scene. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Readings: Genesis, Ruth, Jonah, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Micah, Ecclesiastes

Doubly weak

A verb weak in two places, such as נָתַן (I-nun and a final נ that also assimilates), נָשָׂא (I-nun and III-aleph) or יָצָא (I-yod and III-aleph). Intro to Classical Hebrew: Weak Verbs

Dual

A grammatical number for exactly two, besides singular and plural. Common in Homer, still alive in classical Attic, gone in Koine. Intro to Classical Greek: Readings: Aesop, Xenophon, Plato, Homer

A third number, beside singular and plural, used mainly for things that come in pairs and for 'two' of some units: יָדַיִם hands, שְׁנָתַיִם two years. Ending ַיִם-. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Nouns: Gender, Number and the Construct State

E

Elision

Dropping a short final vowel before a word that begins with a vowel, marked with an apostrophe: ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ. Intro to Classical Greek: Prepositions

Emphatic consonant

One of the consonants ט צ ק, which in older Hebrew had an extra feature, probably a pulled-back tongue root or a catch in the throat, that set them apart from ת, ס and כּ. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Pronunciation

Enclitic

A short word that leans on the word before it and usually loses its own accent, such as σοι 'to you' or ἐστι 'is.' Intro to Classical Greek: Breathings, Accents and Punctuation

A short word that leans on the word before it and gives up its own accent, like μοι and σοι in ὄνομά μοι and τί ὄνομά σοι. Intro to Classical Greek: Greetings and Classroom Phrases

A word that leans back on the word before it and often loses its own accent, like most forms of εἰμί. Intro to Classical Greek: The Present Active Indicative and εἰμί

A short word that leans on the word before it in pronunciation and usually gives up its own accent, such as most forms of φημί and εἰμί. Intro to Classical Greek: Infinitives and Indirect Statement

Erasmian pronunciation

A family of school pronunciations of ancient Greek based on the ideas Erasmus published in 1528. It differs from country to country. Intro to Classical Greek: Pronunciation: Restored Attic, Erasmian and Modern

F

Factitive

Making something be in a state: Qal קָדַשׁ 'be holy,' Piel קִדֵּשׁ 'make holy, consecrate.' A common sense of the Piel. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Derived Stems

Fientive verb

A verb of action: שָׁמַר 'keep,' כָּתַב 'write.' Its Qal perfect 3ms has patah: קָטַל. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Qal Perfect

Final form

The shape that five letters (כ מ נ פ צ) take at the end of a word: ך ם ן ף ץ. Four of the five drop below the line. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Alphabet and Handwriting

Final sigma

The form ς that sigma takes at the end of a word. Everywhere else it is σ. Intro to Classical Greek: The Alphabet and Handwriting

First aorist

An aorist formed with the marker -σα added to the stem, as in ἔλυσα. Also called the sigmatic or weak aorist. Intro to Classical Greek: The Aorist

First perfect

A perfect formed with -κα after the reduplicated stem, used mainly by vowel, liquid and dental stems: λέλυκα, πέπεικα. Intro to Classical Greek: The Perfect and Pluperfect

Fronting

Putting a word or phrase before the verb to mark emphasis, contrast or a new topic: אֶת־קֹלְךָ שָׁמַעְתִּי 'it was your voice I heard.' Intro to Classical Hebrew: Clauses and Word Order

Furtive patah

A patah under a final ח, ע or הּ that is said before the guttural, as a glide: רוּחַ [RU-akh]. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Syllables, Stress and Reading Aloud

Future

The tense for what will happen, formed in most verbs by adding -σ- to the stem: λύσω, 'I will loose.' Intro to Classical Greek: The Imperfect and the Future

G

Gematria

Using letters as numbers (א = 1, ב = 2 ... ת = 400), and in later Jewish tradition, interpreting words by the sum of their letters. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Numbers, Dates and Time

Geminate (ע"ע)

A verb whose second and third root letters are the same: סָבַב. Often written with only two letters plus a dagesh: סַבּוּנִי. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Weak Verbs

Gender

Every Hebrew noun is masculine or feminine. Most feminine nouns end in ָה- or ת-, but some (אֶרֶץ, עִיר, יָד) are feminine with no ending. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Nouns: Gender, Number and the Construct State

Genitive absolute

A noun or pronoun with a participle, both in the genitive, forming a clause that is not tied to the main sentence: ἡλίου δύνοντος 'as the sun was setting.' Intro to Classical Greek: Participles

Geresh

A small mark ׳ written after a letter. In modern Hebrew it shows a foreign sound, such as ג׳ for j, and it also marks a letter used as a number. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Alphabet and Handwriting

Geresh and gershayim

The marks ׳ and ״ that show letters are being used as numbers or abbreviations: ה׳ = 5, ט״ו = 15. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Numbers, Dates and Time

Graded reader

A book of Greek written or adapted to grow harder step by step, so that a learner can read a lot of easy text before tackling real authors. Intro to Classical Greek: Review and Next Steps

Grammatical gender

A class every Greek noun belongs to: masculine, feminine or neuter. For things without sex it is a matter of form, not meaning. Intro to Classical Greek: Nouns: Gender, Number, and the First and Second Declensions

Guttural letters

The throat letters א ה ח ע, and in some rules ר. They follow special rules in grammar because they cannot be doubled and like a-vowels (Gesenius, section 22). Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Alphabet and Handwriting

Guttural verb

A verb with א, ה, ח or ע (and in part ר) as a root letter. Gutturals take hateph vowels instead of vocal shewa, prefer a, and refuse dagesh forte. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Weak Verbs

H

Hateph vowel

A reduced vowel written as shewa plus patah, segol or qamets (ֲ ֱ ֳ). It stands mainly under the guttural letters where other letters would have vocal shewa. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Vowel Points, Shewa and Dagesh

Heavy ending

The 2nd person plural endings ־ְתֶּם and ־ְתֶּן, which take the stress and reduce the first vowel of the stem: קְטַלְתֶּם. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Qal Perfect

Hiphil and Hophal

The causative stems with prefix ה (הִקְטִיל, הָקְטַל). Hiphil: cause someone to do or be (הֵמִית, put to death). Hophal: be caused, its passive (יוּמַת, be put to death). Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Derived Stems

Hithpael

The stem with prefix הִתְ and a doubled middle letter (הִתְקַטֵּל): reflexive (hide oneself), reciprocal, or repeated action (walk about). Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Derived Stems

Hollow verb (ע"ו / ע"י)

A verb whose middle root letter is ו or י and appears only as a vowel: קוּם, שִׂים, בּוֹא. The dictionary form is the infinitive construct (קוּם), not the perfect (קָם). Intro to Classical Hebrew: Weak Verbs

I

I-nun (פ"נ)

A verb whose first root letter is נ. Where the נ would close a syllable it assimilates, leaving a dagesh: יִפֹּל from נָפַל. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Weak Verbs

I-stem

A third declension noun whose stem ends in ι, like πόλις. In Attic it shows ε instead of ι in most cases and a genitive in -εως. Intro to Classical Greek: The Third Declension

I-yod / I-vav (פ"י)

A verb whose first root letter is י. Most were originally ו (יָשַׁב), lose the letter in the imperfect, imperative and infinitive (יֵשֵׁב, שֵׁב, שֶׁבֶת), and show ו in the Niphal and Hiphil (הוֹשִׁיב). Intro to Classical Hebrew: Weak Verbs

III-he (ל"ה)

A verb whose dictionary form ends in ה (בָּנָה, עָשָׂה, הָיָה). The ה is a vowel letter for an original י or ו; endings vary by form, and the jussive and waw-consecutive often drop the ending (וַיִּבֶן). Intro to Classical Hebrew: Weak Verbs

Immersion method

Teaching a language in that language, with speaking, pictures and gestures, instead of explaining it in another language. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Review and Next Steps

Imperative

The verb form for giving a command or making a request, such as 'say!' or 'listen!' χαῖρε is an imperative. Intro to Classical Greek: Greetings and Classroom Phrases

The mood of commands: loosen! let him loosen! Intro to Classical Greek: Subjunctive, Optative and Imperative

The command form of a verb: קְרָא read!, כְּתֹב write!, שְׁמַע listen! Hebrew has separate forms for a man, a woman and a group. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Greetings and Everyday Phrases

The command form, second person only: קְטֹל, kill! It is built from the imperfect by dropping the prefix, and it is never negated. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Imperative, Jussive and Cohortative

Imperfect

The past tense of ongoing, repeated or attempted action: 'I was loosing,' 'I used to loose,' 'I tried to loose.' Intro to Classical Greek: The Imperfect and the Future

Imperfect (yiqtol, prefix conjugation)

The verb form built with prefixes (and some endings): יִקְטֹל, תִּקְטְלוּ. It presents an action as not yet complete: future, repeated, or possible. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Qal Imperfect and the Waw-Consecutive

Indefinite

A word meaning 'some, any, someone,' such as τις. In Greek the indefinites look like the interrogatives but are enclitic. Intro to Classical Greek: Conversation and Composition

Independent pronoun

A pronoun that stands as its own word, such as אֲנִי 'I' or הֵם 'they.' In Hebrew it is mostly used as the subject of a clause. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Pronouns, Verbless Clauses and Pronominal Suffixes

Indicative

The mood of verbs that states facts or asks factual questions. Most sentences in a story or speech are indicative. Intro to Classical Greek: The Present Active Indicative and εἰμί

Indirect object

The person or thing to or for whom something is done: in 'I give a book to the teacher,' the teacher. In Greek it is in the dative. Intro to Classical Greek: The Cases and What They Do

Indirect statement

Reporting what someone said or thought without quoting their exact words: 'he says that the road is long' instead of 'he says, "The road is long."' Intro to Classical Greek: Infinitives and Indirect Statement

Infinitive

The to form of a verb: λύειν, to loosen; λύεσθαι, to be loosened or to loosen for oneself. Intro to Classical Greek: The Present Middle and Passive

A verb form that names the action without a person or number, like English 'to loosen.' Greek infinitives have tense and voice. Intro to Classical Greek: Infinitives and Indirect Statement

Infinitive absolute

A second verbal noun, קָטוֹל, that stands alone: before a verb for emphasis (מוֹת תָּמוּת), after a verb for continued action, or as a command (זָכוֹר). Intro to Classical Hebrew: Participles and Infinitives

Infinitive construct

A verbal noun, קְטֹל: it takes prepositions (לִקְטֹל, to kill; בְּשָׁמְרָם, in keeping them) and pronoun suffixes for its subject or object. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Participles and Infinitives

Ingressive aorist

An aorist of a verb that names a state, translated as entering that state: ἐβασίλευσε, 'he became king.' Intro to Classical Greek: The Aorist

Inseparable preposition

One of the prepositions בְּ in, כְּ like, לְ to, which are always written joined to the next word. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Article, the Conjunction and the Prepositions

Interlinear

An edition that prints an English gloss under each Hebrew word in Hebrew word order. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Using a Lexicon and Reading Aids

Interrogative

A word that asks a question, such as τίς (who?) or ποῦ (where?). Intro to Classical Greek: Conversation and Composition

Interrogative הֲ

A prefix that turns a statement into a yes-or-no question: שָׁלוֹם לוֹ 'he is well,' הֲשָׁלוֹם לוֹ 'is he well?' Before a guttural or a shewa it is usually written הַ. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Greetings and Everyday Phrases

The prefix that turns a statement into a yes/no question: הֲשָׁלוֹם לוֹ 'is he well?' It is pointed הֲ, הַ or הֶ depending on the next sound. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Conversation and Composition

Ionic

The dialect group of the Ionian cities of Asia Minor and most Aegean islands, closely related to Attic. Old Ionic is the main ingredient of Homer's language; later Ionic is the dialect of Herodotus. Intro to Classical Greek: Readings: Aesop, Xenophon, Plato, Homer

Iotacism

The historical sound change by which η, ι, υ, ει, οι and υι all came to be pronounced [i], as they are in modern Greek. Intro to Classical Greek: Pronunciation: Restored Attic, Erasmian and Modern

J

Jussive

The third person (and negated second person) volitive: let him, may it, do not. In the strong Qal it looks like the imperfect; it is shorter in III-he verbs (יְהִי), hollow verbs (יָקֹם) and the Hiphil (יַקְטֵל). Intro to Classical Hebrew: Imperative, Jussive and Cohortative

K

Ketiv and qere

Aramaic for 'written' and 'read'. Where the Masoretes judged that the written consonants should be read differently, they left the ketiv in the text and noted the qere in the margin. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Using a Lexicon and Reading Aids

Koine

The common Greek of the eastern Mediterranean from about 300 BC to about AD 600, based mainly on Attic. The language of the Septuagint and the New Testament, and of much Hellenistic prose. Intro to Classical Greek: Review and Next Steps

L

Labials

The lip consonants ב, מ, פ. Before them 'and' is spelled וּ. A memory word is bumaf, ב-ו-מ-פ. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Article, the Conjunction and the Prepositions

Large letter

A letter written larger than the rest by scribal tradition, as the ע and ד of Deuteronomy 6:4. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Readings: Genesis, Ruth, Jonah, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Micah, Ecclesiastes

Lemma

The headword of a dictionary entry, the form under which a word is listed: λόγος, ἀγαθός, λύω. Intro to Classical Greek: Using a Lexicon and Reading Aids

Lengthened imperative

An imperative with the ending ָה added, often more emphatic or courteous: שִׁמְעָה, hear! קוּמָה, arise! Intro to Classical Hebrew: Imperative, Jussive and Cohortative

Lexical entry

The way a dictionary lists a noun: nominative, genitive ending, and article for gender, as in φύλαξ, -ακος, ὁ. Intro to Classical Greek: The Third Declension

Lexicon

A dictionary of an ancient language. For Greek the word usually means LSJ or one of its abridgments. Intro to Classical Greek: Using a Lexicon and Reading Aids

Linear B

A syllabic script used on clay tablets in Mycenaean palaces about 1400 to 1200 BC. It records the oldest known form of Greek and was deciphered in 1952. Intro to Classical Greek: Review and Next Steps

Liquid aorist

The first aorist of a verb whose stem ends in λ, μ, ν or ρ. It drops the σ and lengthens the stem vowel: μένω, ἔμεινα. Intro to Classical Greek: The Aorist

Liquid verb

A verb whose stem ends in λ, μ, ν or ρ. Its future drops the σ and contracts: μένω, μενῶ. Intro to Classical Greek: The Imperfect and the Future

M

Mappiq

A dot in a final ה (rarely in other letters) showing that the letter is a real consonant, not a silent vowel letter. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Vowel Points, Shewa and Dagesh

A dot inside a final ה showing that it is a real consonant h, not a silent vowel letter. It marks the suffix 'her': סוּסָהּ, לָהּ. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Pronouns, Verbless Clauses and Pronominal Suffixes

Maqaf

The raised hyphen ־ that joins words into a single stress unit. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Syllables, Stress and Reading Aloud

The short raised hyphen ־ that joins two words so they are said as one stress unit, as in מַה־שְּׁמֶךָ. It is not a dash. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Greetings and Everyday Phrases

The raised hyphen ־ joining two words under one stress, as in אֶת־הָאוֹר, עַל־פְּנֵי, מִן־הַשָּׁמַיִם. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Article, the Conjunction and the Prepositions

Masoretes

Jewish scholars of the 7th to 10th centuries AD who added vowel points, accents and notes to the consonantal text so that the traditional reading would be preserved exactly. The Tiberian Masoretes, of the city of Tiberias, produced the system printed today. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Vowel Points, Shewa and Dagesh

Mater lectionis

Latin for 'mother of reading' (plural matres lectionis): a consonant letter, ו, י, ה or sometimes א, used to show a vowel. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Vowel Points, Shewa and Dagesh

Metathesis

Two sounds trading places. In the Hithpael, the prefix ת swaps with a following ס, שׂ or שׁ: הִשְׁתַּמֵּר, not *הִתְשַׁמֵּר. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Derived Stems

Middle voice

A voice in which the subject acts on itself, for itself, or with special interest in the result, such as λούομαι, I wash myself. Intro to Classical Greek: The Present Middle and Passive

Mil'el

Aramaic for 'from above': stress on the next to last syllable, as in segolates like מֶלֶךְ [ME-lekh]. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Syllables, Stress and Reading Aloud

Milra

Aramaic for 'from below': stress on the last syllable of a word, the usual Hebrew pattern. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Syllables, Stress and Reading Aloud

Modern convention

In this course, a phrase that Israelis use today but that classical texts do not use the same way, such as תּוֹדָה for 'thanks' or בֹּקֶר טוֹב for 'good morning.' Intro to Classical Hebrew: Greetings and Everyday Phrases

Modern Israeli pronunciation

The pronunciation of Hebrew as spoken in Israel today, based on Sephardi vowels with consonants shaped by its first speakers. It has five vowels and has lost several classical consonant distinctions. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Pronunciation

Monotonic

The modern Greek spelling system with a single accent mark and no breathings, made official in 1982. Classical texts are printed in the polytonic system this course uses. Intro to Classical Greek: Review and Next Steps

Mood

The form of a verb that shows how the speaker presents the action: as a fact (indicative), as wanted or expected (subjunctive), as wished or possible (optative), or as an order (imperative). Intro to Classical Greek: Subjunctive, Optative and Imperative

Morphological parser

A program that takes an inflected word and lists the lemma and every grammatical analysis the form could have. Intro to Classical Greek: Using a Lexicon and Reading Aids

Morphology code

A short string that parses a word, such as HVqp3ms: Hebrew, verb, Qal, perfect, third person, masculine, singular. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Using a Lexicon and Reading Aids

Movable nu

A ν added to certain endings, such as -ουσι and ἐστί, before a vowel or at the end of a sentence, written -ουσιν, ἐστίν. Intro to Classical Greek: The Present Active Indicative and εἰμί

N

Narrative chain

A series of wayyiqtol verbs telling events in order: 'and he arose, and he went down, and he found, and he paid.' Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Qal Imperfect and the Waw-Consecutive

A run of waw-consecutive imperfects (וַיֵּלֶךְ ... וַיַּרְא ... וַיֹּאמֶר) that tells events in order. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Conversation and Composition

Nesiga

Retraction of the stress to the next-to-last syllable when the following word is stressed on its first syllable, as in קָרָא לָיְלָה, read [KA-ra LAI-la]. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Readings: Genesis, Ruth, Jonah, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Micah, Ecclesiastes

Niphal

The stem with prefix נ (נִקְטַל, imperfect יִקָּטֵל): usually passive or reflexive of the Qal, sometimes reciprocal, and for some verbs simply active (נִלְחַם, fight). Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Derived Stems

Niqqud

The system of vowel points and related dots written under, over and inside the Hebrew letters. The word means 'pointing.' Intro to Classical Hebrew: Vowel Points, Shewa and Dagesh

Noun

A word that names a person, place, thing or idea, such as 'teacher,' 'Athens,' 'gift' or 'honor.' Intro to Classical Greek: Nouns: Gender, Number, and the First and Second Declensions

Number

Whether a word refers to one (singular), more than one (plural) or, rarely, exactly two (dual). Intro to Classical Greek: Nouns: Gender, Number, and the First and Second Declensions

O

Object marker

אֵת (often אֶת־ with maqaf) placed before a definite direct object. It has no English translation: אֶת־הָאוֹר 'the light' as the object of 'saw.' Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Article, the Conjunction and the Prepositions

The word אֵת / אֶת־ that marks a definite direct object. With suffixes it becomes אֹתִי 'me,' אֹתוֹ 'him,' אֹתָם 'them.' Intro to Classical Hebrew: Pronouns, Verbless Clauses and Pronominal Suffixes

Object of a preposition

The noun or pronoun a preposition governs. In Greek it must stand in the case that preposition requires. Intro to Classical Greek: Prepositions

Oblique cases

The genitive, dative and accusative, the cases other than the nominative and vocative (Smyth 201 a). Intro to Classical Greek: The Cases and What They Do

Off-line clause

A clause that interrupts the chain, usually וְ + a noun or pronoun + a perfect or verbless clause. It gives background, contrast or a simultaneous fact instead of the next event. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Qal Imperfect and the Waw-Consecutive

Open syllable

A syllable that ends in a vowel, such as דָּ in דָּבָר. Unstressed open syllables tend to have long vowels. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Syllables, Stress and Reading Aloud

Optative

The mood of wishes and remote possibilities: may it happen, it might happen. Named from Latin opto, I wish. Recognized by -οι- or -αι- before the ending. Intro to Classical Greek: Subjunctive, Optative and Imperative

Ordinal number

A number that gives a place in order: first, second, third (רִאשׁוֹן, שֵׁנִי, שְׁלִישִׁי). Hebrew has ordinal forms only for 1st to 10th. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Numbers, Dates and Time

P

Paleo-Hebrew script

The older Hebrew alphabet, close to Phoenician, used in Israel and Judah before the Babylonian exile. It appears on the Gezer calendar and the Siloam inscription. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Alphabet and Handwriting

Paradigm

A model table showing every form of one word, used as a pattern for others like it. Intro to Classical Greek: Nouns: Gender, Number, and the First and Second Declensions

A model table of all the forms of one word or verb, learned as a pattern for others. The course's model verb is קָטַל, as in Gesenius. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Review and Next Steps

Paragogic nun

An extra ן on imperfect endings ־וּ and ־ִי: תִּשְׁמְרוּן for תִּשְׁמְרוּ. It does not change the meaning. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Qal Imperfect and the Waw-Consecutive

Parallelism

The pairing of lines in Hebrew poetry so that the second echoes, contrasts with or carries forward the first. The main structural device of Hebrew verse. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Readings: Genesis, Ruth, Jonah, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Micah, Ecclesiastes

Parse

To identify a word's form fully. For a noun: its case, number, gender and dictionary form. Intro to Classical Greek: The Cases and What They Do

To identify every grammatical feature of a form: root, stem, conjugation, person, gender, number, and any prefixes or suffixes. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Roots, the Seven Stems (Binyanim) and the Qal

Participle

A verb form that works as an adjective: it has tense and voice like a verb, and gender, number and case like an adjective. English 'loosing,' 'having loosed.' Intro to Classical Greek: Participles

A verbal adjective: a verb form that can describe a noun, act as a noun, or serve as the predicate of a clause. Qal active קֹטֵל, passive קָטוּל. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Participles and Infinitives

Particle

A small uninflected word that adds tone or links sentences, such as δέ, γάρ, οὖν, δή, ἆρα. Greek uses far more of them than English. Intro to Classical Greek: Conversation and Composition

Particle of entreaty נָא

A small word after a command or wish that makes it polite: 'please, I pray, now.' קְרָא נָא־זֶה, 'please read this' (Isaiah 29:12). Intro to Classical Hebrew: Greetings and Everyday Phrases

Passive participle

The Qal participle for the one acted on: בָּרוּךְ, blessed; כָּתוּב, written. Formed with qamets and shureq. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Participles and Infinitives

Passive voice

A voice in which the subject receives the action: the horse is untied. Intro to Classical Greek: The Present Middle and Passive

Pattern

The fixed arrangement of vowels, prefixes, suffixes and doubling into which root letters are set: CāCaC gives שָׁמַר, כָּתַב, מָלַךְ. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Roots, the Seven Stems (Binyanim) and the Qal

Pausal form

A form with a lengthened or changed vowel, used at a major pause in the verse, usually at the end (silluq) or the middle (atnah). Intro to Classical Hebrew: Readings: Genesis, Ruth, Jonah, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Micah, Ecclesiastes

Pause

The position of a word at a major break in a verse, especially the last word. Words in pause often lengthen or change their stressed vowel. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Syllables, Stress and Reading Aloud

Pause (pausal form)

A slightly different vowel pattern on a word at a major break in the verse, often at the end. אַתָּה becomes אָתָּה, אֲנַחְנוּ becomes אֲנָחְנוּ. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Pronouns, Verbless Clauses and Pronominal Suffixes

Pause form

A slightly different vowel pattern that a word takes at a strong break in the verse. שְׁמֶךָ (Genesis 32:28) is the pause form; in the middle of a phrase the same word is שִׁמְךָ (Genesis 32:29). Intro to Classical Hebrew: Greetings and Everyday Phrases

Perfect

The tense of a completed action whose result still stands at the time of speaking: λέλυκα, 'I have loosed (and it is loose).' Intro to Classical Greek: The Perfect and Pluperfect

Perfect (qatal, suffix conjugation)

The verb form built by adding endings to the stem: קָטַלְתִּי, קָטַלְנוּ. It presents an action or state as a whole, usually completed. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Qal Perfect

Performative perfect

A perfect used when the words themselves do the deed, as in giving or swearing: נָתַתִּי 'I (hereby) give.' Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Qal Perfect

Perpetual qere

A word always read differently from its spelling, with no note in the margin. In the Torah the WLC writes הִוא, read hi [HI], 'she, that.' Intro to Classical Hebrew: Adjectives and Demonstratives

Perry Index

The standard numbering of Aesop's fables, from B. E. Perry's Aesopica (1952). The fox and the grapes is Perry 15. Intro to Classical Greek: Readings: Aesop, Xenophon, Plato, Homer

Persistent accent

An accent that tries to stay on the same syllable it has in the dictionary form, moving only when the rules force it. Nouns and adjectives have it. Intro to Classical Greek: Breathings, Accents and Punctuation

Person

Who is acting: first person is the speaker (I, we), second is the one spoken to (you), third is anyone else (he, she, it, they). Intro to Classical Greek: The Present Active Indicative and εἰμί

Pharyngeal

A sound made by squeezing the throat behind the tongue (the pharynx). Tiberian ח and ע were pharyngeals, as their Arabic counterparts still are. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Pronunciation

Piel and Pual

The doubled stems, marked by a dagesh forte in the middle root letter (קִטֵּל, קֻטַּל). Piel is active, often making a state into an action; Pual is its passive. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Derived Stems

Pitch accent

An accent marked by raising the voice to a higher note, as in ancient Greek, instead of by saying the syllable louder, as in English. Intro to Classical Greek: Breathings, Accents and Punctuation

Pluperfect

The past of the perfect: an action already completed at some point in the past, with its result standing then: ἐλελύκη, 'I had loosed.' Intro to Classical Greek: The Perfect and Pluperfect

Postpositive

A word that can never stand first in its clause, such as δέ, μέν and γάρ. It usually comes second. Intro to Classical Greek: The Article and Agreement

Predicate adjective

An adjective that makes a statement about a noun: 'the man is good.' In Hebrew it has no article, usually comes first, and needs no verb: טוֹב הָאִישׁ. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Adjectives and Demonstratives

An adjective that says something about its noun ('the man is good'). In Hebrew it has no article and usually comes first: טוֹב הָאִישׁ. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Conversation and Composition

Predicate position

An adjective outside the article-noun group (ὁ ἵππος ἀγαθός). It makes a statement: the horse is good. Intro to Classical Greek: Adjectives and Pronouns

Preformative

A prefix that marks person in the imperfect: א (I), י (he, they), ת (you, she, they f.), נ (we). Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Qal Imperfect and the Waw-Consecutive

Preposition

A small word placed before a noun to show a relationship such as place, direction, time or cause: in, into, from, with, through. Intro to Classical Greek: Prepositions

Primary and secondary tenses

Primary tenses (present, future, perfect) refer to present or future time. Secondary tenses (imperfect, aorist, pluperfect indicative) refer to the past. The choice between subjunctive and optative in many clauses depends on which kind the main verb is. Intro to Classical Greek: Subjunctive, Optative and Imperative

Principal parts

The handful of forms you memorize for each verb because every other form is built from them. The present and the future are the first two. Intro to Classical Greek: The Imperfect and the Future

The six forms of a verb from which every other form can be built: present, future, aorist active, perfect active, perfect middle/passive, aorist passive. Intro to Classical Greek: Using a Lexicon and Reading Aids

Proclitic

A short word with no accent of its own that leans forward onto the next word, like ὁ, ἡ, οἱ and αἱ. Intro to Classical Greek: The Article and Agreement

Prohibition

A negative command. Hebrew uses לֹא with the imperfect for lasting, categorical prohibitions and אַל with the jussive for specific, immediate ones. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Imperative, Jussive and Cohortative

Pronominal suffix

A pronoun attached to the end of a noun, preposition or verb: סוּסִי 'my horse,' לוֹ 'to him,' אֹתִי 'me.' Intro to Classical Hebrew: Pronouns, Verbless Clauses and Pronominal Suffixes

Pronoun

A word that stands in for a noun, such as I, you, he, this, that. Intro to Classical Greek: Adjectives and Pronouns

Protasis and apodosis

The 'if' half and the 'then' half of a conditional sentence. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Clauses and Word Order

Purpose clause

A clause that says why something is done: so that, in order that. In Greek, introduced by ἵνα, ὅπως or ὡς. Intro to Classical Greek: Subjunctive, Optative and Imperative

Q

Qal

The basic stem, Hebrew קַל 'light,' because it adds nothing to the root. Most verb forms in the Hebrew Bible are Qal. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Roots, the Seven Stems (Binyanim) and the Qal

Qere and ketiv

Aramaic for 'what is read' and 'what is written.' Where the Masoretes read a word differently from the consonants in the text, the consonants stay and the reading is noted. The divine name is a perpetual qere. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Vowel Points, Shewa and Dagesh

R

Reader's edition

A Hebrew text with glosses or parsings in footnotes for less common words, meant to keep you reading the Hebrew page. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Using a Lexicon and Reading Aids

A Hebrew text with footnotes that gloss less common words, so a learner can keep reading the Hebrew page. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Review and Next Steps

Recessive accent

An accent that moves as far from the end of the word as the length of the last syllable allows. Most verb forms have it. Intro to Classical Greek: Breathings, Accents and Punctuation

Reduplication

Copying the first consonant of a verb with ε to mark the perfect: λύω, λέλυκα. Intro to Classical Greek: The Perfect and Pluperfect

Relative pronoun

אֲשֶׁר (and the short form שֶׁ) 'who, which, that.' It never changes form. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Pronouns, Verbless Clauses and Pronominal Suffixes

Restored Attic pronunciation

A scholarly reconstruction of how educated Athenians spoke in the late fifth and fourth centuries BC, based on ancient descriptions, spellings, inscriptions and loanwords. Intro to Classical Greek: Pronunciation: Restored Attic, Erasmian and Modern

Resumptive pronoun

A pronoun inside a relative clause that points back to the noun the clause describes, as in 'the land which you lie on it.' Intro to Classical Hebrew: Pronouns, Verbless Clauses and Pronominal Suffixes

A pronoun inside a relative clause that points back to the noun: הָעֵץ אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתִיךָ לְבִלְתִּי אֲכָל־מִמֶּנּוּ 'the tree which I commanded you not to eat from it.' Intro to Classical Hebrew: Clauses and Word Order

Reverse agreement (polarity)

The rule that the numbers 3 to 10 take the form ending in ָה with masculine nouns and the short form with feminine nouns, the opposite of what you expect from adjectives. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Numbers, Dates and Time

Root

The set of consonants, usually three, that carries the basic meaning shared by a family of words: מ־ל־ך 'reign, king.' Also called the radicals. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Roots, the Seven Stems (Binyanim) and the Qal

The consonants, usually three, that carry a word's basic meaning, such as ה-ל-ך 'go' or נ-ת-ן 'give'. BDB is arranged by roots. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Using a Lexicon and Reading Aids

S

Scansion

Marking each syllable of a line of verse as long or short and dividing it into feet. Intro to Classical Greek: Readings: Aesop, Xenophon, Plato, Homer

Second aorist

An aorist formed on a short, changed stem with the same endings as the imperfect, as in ἔλαβον from λαμβάνω. Also called the strong aorist. Intro to Classical Greek: The Aorist

Second perfect

A perfect formed with plain -α and no κ, often with a changed or aspirated stem: γέγραφα, πέπομφα, πέποιθα. Intro to Classical Greek: The Perfect and Pluperfect

Segolate

A noun of two syllables stressed on the first, usually with segol in the second, such as מֶלֶךְ king, סֵפֶר book, בֹּקֶר morning, נַעַר youth. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Syllables, Stress and Reading Aloud

Segolate noun

A noun stressed on its first syllable with a helping vowel (usually segol) in the second: מֶלֶךְ, סֵפֶר, נַעַר, אֹהֶל. It comes from an old base with one vowel, such as malk. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Nouns: Gender, Number and the Construct State

Sephardi

The tradition of the Jews of Spain and Portugal and their descendants around the Mediterranean. Its vowels became the basis of modern Israeli Hebrew. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Pronunciation

Shewa

The two dots ְ under a letter. Vocal shewa is a very short e sound; silent shewa marks the end of a syllable and is not pronounced. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Vowel Points, Shewa and Dagesh

Short (apocopated) form

A shortened imperfect used after the waw-consecutive and in the jussive, with stress pulled back: וַיְהִי from יִהְיֶה, וַיַּרְא from יִרְאֶה. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Qal Imperfect and the Waw-Consecutive

Sigma stem

A third declension noun whose stem ends in σ, which drops out between vowels and makes contractions, like γένος, γένους. Intro to Classical Greek: The Third Declension

Singular and plural

Singular means one person or thing; plural means more than one. χαῖρε greets one person, χαίρετε greets several. Intro to Classical Greek: Greetings and Classroom Phrases

Spirantization

The softening of a stop to a hissing or rubbing sound, as when בּ b becomes ב v. In Tiberian Hebrew all six begadkefat letters did this after a vowel. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Pronunciation

Square script

The Hebrew letter shapes used in printed Bibles and modern books, called כְּתָב מְרֻבָּע (square script) or, in the Talmud, the 'Assyrian' script. It grew out of the Aramaic alphabet. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Alphabet and Handwriting

Stative verb

A verb describing a state or quality: כָּבֵד 'be heavy,' קָטֹן 'be small,' זָקֵן 'be old.' Its 3ms perfect often has tsere or holem. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Qal Perfect

Stem

The part of a verb that stays the same while endings change. For λύω the present stem is λυ-. Intro to Classical Greek: The Present Active Indicative and εἰμί

The part of a noun that stays the same while the endings change. In the third declension you find it by dropping -ος from the genitive singular. Intro to Classical Greek: The Third Declension

Stem (binyan)

One of the seven main verb patterns, each with its own range of meaning: Qal, Niphal, Piel, Pual, Hithpael, Hiphil, Hophal. Hebrew binyan means 'building.' Intro to Classical Hebrew: Roots, the Seven Stems (Binyanim) and the Qal

One of the patterns in which a root is built into a verb, each with its own prefixes, vowels and doubling and its own typical meaning. Hebrew בִּנְיָן means 'building.' The Qal is the simple stem; the others are derived stems. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Derived Stems

Stem and ending

The stem carries a word's meaning and stays the same; the ending changes to show case and number. In λόγ-ος, λογ- is the stem and -ος the ending. Intro to Classical Greek: Nouns: Gender, Number, and the First and Second Declensions

Strong root

A root whose three letters all stay in place in every form, with no guttural, no weak letter (נ, י, ו, א, ה in certain positions) and no doubled letter: שׁ־מ־ר, כ־ת־ב, מ־ל־ך. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Roots, the Seven Stems (Binyanim) and the Qal

Strong's number

A number from 1 to 8674 that James Strong gave each Hebrew and Aramaic headword in his concordance of 1890. Many free tools tag words with these numbers. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Using a Lexicon and Reading Aids

Subject

The person or thing that does the action of the verb, or is described by it. In Greek it is in the nominative case. Intro to Classical Greek: The Cases and What They Do

Subjunctive

The mood of will and expectation: let us ..., what are we to ...?, so that ..., do not ... . Recognized by its long thematic vowels ω and η. Intro to Classical Greek: Subjunctive, Optative and Imperative

Substantive

Any word or phrase used as a noun. The article can turn an adjective, a genitive or a phrase into a substantive. Intro to Classical Greek: The Article and Agreement

Substantive use

An adjective used as a noun, usually with the article: הַגְּדֹלָה 'the older (daughter),' הֶחָכָם 'the wise man.' Intro to Classical Hebrew: Adjectives and Demonstratives

Sufformative

An ending added to a verb stem to show person, gender and number, such as ־ְתָּ, ־ָה, ־וּ. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Qal Perfect

Supplementary participle

A participle that completes the meaning of certain verbs, such as τυγχάνω 'happen' or ὁράω 'see': ἐτύγχανε παρών 'he happened to be present.' Intro to Classical Greek: Participles

Syllabic augment

The augment ε- added before a verb that starts with a consonant, which adds a syllable: λύω, ἔλυον. Intro to Classical Greek: The Imperfect and the Future

Synizesis

Two vowels that would normally be separate syllables run together into one long syllable for the meter, as -εω in Πηληϊάδεω. Intro to Classical Greek: Readings: Aesop, Xenophon, Plato, Homer

T

Temporal augment

The augment for a verb that starts with a vowel: the vowel is lengthened instead of adding a syllable: ἄγω, ἦγον. Intro to Classical Greek: The Imperfect and the Future

Temporal clause

A clause of time. Hebrew often builds one from בְּ or כְּ plus an infinitive construct, frequently after וַיְהִי: וַיְהִי בִּהְיוֹתָם בַּשָּׂדֶה, and when they were in the field. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Participles and Infinitives

Tense

The verb form that tells you when an action happens and, in Greek, what kind of action it is (ongoing, simple or completed). Intro to Classical Greek: The Imperfect and the Future

Third declension

The large noun family whose stems end in a consonant or in ι, υ, or a diphthong. Its genitive singular usually ends in -ος, -ους or -ως. Intro to Classical Greek: The Third Declension

Tiberian pronunciation

The reading tradition of the Masoretes of Tiberias, about 900 AD, which the vowel points and accents were made to record. It is the oldest Hebrew pronunciation known in detail. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Pronunciation

The reading tradition of the Masoretes of Tiberias, about 900 AD, which the vowel points and accents record. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Review and Next Steps

Transliteration

Writing the letters of one alphabet with the letters of another, letter by letter, as when φιλοσοφία becomes philosophia. Intro to Classical Greek: The Alphabet and Handwriting

U

Ulpan

A school or course for intensive study of modern Hebrew, first set up in Israel in 1949. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Review and Next Steps

Ultima, penult, antepenult

The last syllable of a word, the second-to-last, and the third-to-last. Greek accent can only fall on one of these three. Intro to Classical Greek: Breathings, Accents and Punctuation

V

Verbal clause

A clause with a finite verb. In narrative the verb usually comes first (Gesenius, section 142). Intro to Classical Hebrew: Clauses and Word Order

Verbless (nominal) clause

A clause with no finite verb, where 'is' or 'are' is understood: עִבְרִי אָנֹכִי 'I am a Hebrew' (Gesenius, section 141). Intro to Classical Hebrew: Clauses and Word Order

Verbless clause

A clause with no finite verb, where 'is' or 'are' is understood: טוֹב הָאִישׁ 'the man is good.' Also called a nominal clause (Gesenius, section 141). Intro to Classical Hebrew: Conversation and Composition

Verbless clause (noun clause)

A complete sentence with no verb: subject plus predicate, such as יְהוָה רֹעִי 'The LORD is my shepherd.' English supplies 'is,' 'are,' 'was' and so on from context. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Pronouns, Verbless Clauses and Pronominal Suffixes

Virtual doubling

Before ה and ח (and sometimes ע) the article keeps its short patah without a dagesh, as if the letter were doubled in sound: הַחֹשֶׁךְ. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Article, the Conjunction and the Prepositions

Vocative

The form of a name or noun used when speaking directly to someone, as in 'Hello, Socrates': χαῖρε, ὦ Σώκρατες. Intro to Classical Greek: Greetings and Classroom Phrases

Voice

The verb feature that shows how the subject relates to the action: doing it (active), doing it to or for itself (middle), or receiving it (passive). Intro to Classical Greek: The Present Middle and Passive

Volitive

A verb form that expresses the speaker's will rather than a fact: the imperative, the cohortative and the jussive. From Latin volo, I want. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Imperative, Jussive and Cohortative

Volitive sequence

A volitive followed by וְ and another volitive, where the second gives the purpose or result of the first: do this and live, that is, so that you live. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Imperative, Jussive and Cohortative

Vowel

A sound made with the mouth open and the air flowing freely, such as a, e, i, o, u. Greek has seven vowel letters: α, ε, η, ι, ο, υ, ω. Intro to Classical Greek: The Alphabet and Handwriting

Vowel length

How long a vowel is held. In ancient Greek a long vowel lasted about twice as long as a short one, and length could change a word's meaning. Intro to Classical Greek: Pronunciation: Restored Attic, Erasmian and Modern

Vowel reduction

When stress moves toward the end of a word, a long vowel two syllables or more before the new stress often shrinks to shewa: דָּבָר, דְּבָרִים, דְּבַר. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Nouns: Gender, Number and the Construct State

W

Waw-consecutive imperfect (wayyiqtol)

וַ + doubled prefix + imperfect: וַיִּקְטֹל 'and he killed.' The main past-tense form of Hebrew narrative; each one usually moves the story a step forward. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Qal Imperfect and the Waw-Consecutive

Waw-consecutive perfect (weqatal)

A perfect with the conjunction וְ that continues a future, command or habitual sequence: וְשָׁמַרְתָּ 'and you shall keep.' Taught in lesson 12. Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Qal Perfect

וְ + perfect continuing a future, a command or a habit: וְשָׁמַרְתָּ 'and you shall keep.' Intro to Classical Hebrew: The Qal Imperfect and the Waw-Consecutive

Wayyiqtol chain

A run of wayyiqtol verbs that carries a story forward one event at a time. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Readings: Genesis, Ruth, Jonah, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Micah, Ecclesiastes

Weak letter

A root letter that can drop out, assimilate or change in some forms: נ, י, ו, ה, א and the doubled letter of a geminate root. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Using a Lexicon and Reading Aids

Weak root

A root with a letter that assimilates, drops, turns into a vowel or resists doubling: נ־ת־ן, י־שׁ־ב, ק־ו־ם, ב־נ־ה, and roots with gutturals. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Roots, the Seven Stems (Binyanim) and the Qal

Weak verb

A verb with at least one root letter that does not behave regularly: a guttural, נ, י or ו, final ה or א, or a repeated letter. Weak verbs change the vowels of the strong pattern or lose a letter. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Weak Verbs

ה

הִנֵּה

Look, here is, there was: a particle that points at a scene. With a participle it gives a vivid picture (there they were, going up) or announces what is about to happen. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Participles and Infinitives

ח

חֹדֶשׁ

Month, originally 'new moon' (from the root חדשׁ 'new'). The older word יֶרַח means both 'moon' and 'month.' Intro to Classical Hebrew: Numbers, Dates and Time

נ

נָא

A short particle after imperatives, cohortatives and jussives, traditionally rendered 'please' or 'I pray'; it softens or presses a request. Intro to Classical Hebrew: Imperative, Jussive and Cohortative

ש

שָׁלוֹם

Wholeness, welfare, safety, peace. Used to greet, to ask how someone is, and to send someone off (BDB, under שָׁלוֹם). Intro to Classical Hebrew: Greetings and Everyday Phrases