Q14 MT Deut 13:5 wklt OV(l) – Difference in grammati-
772
The form in 1QDeuta preserves paragogic nun. This occurs only on the last verb in the clause in MT.
4QDeutc (Q598 below) and the SP also retain paragogic nun for this verb, with the SP preserving this end-
ing also in the following verb Nw)ryt. The form in Biblical Hebrew is generally considered to be a genuine
archaic form, a deliberate archaism, a result of Aramaic influence or due to concerns of metre – see P.
Joüon and T. Muraoka, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (Subsidia Biblica 14/1 Rome: Editrice Pontificio
Istituto Biblico, 1993) 137. In the case of the Qumran biblical scrolls the same explanations may apply. It is
possible that the influence of Aramaic as a spoken language encouraged the use of the archaic verbal af-
formative Nw- particularly when proximate to instances of the same form as is the case in Deut 13:5. Simi-
larly, the influence of Aramaic on the 2fs perfect afformative in Samaritan Hebrew has been conjectured by
Z. Ben-Hayyim, A Grammar of Samaritan Hebrew (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 2000) 103-4, where the ar-
chaic afformative yt- was preserved in Samaritan Hebrew due to its similarity to the afformative in the ver-
nacular Aramaic (see also E.Y. Kutscher, Language and Linguistic Background, 25-27). Indeed, E.Y.
Kutscher, Language and Linguistic Background, 193, seems to view the Qumran Hebrew forms with af-
formative Nw- as influenced by Aramaic. According to J. Hoftijzer, The Function and Use of the Imperfect
Forms with Nun Paragogicum in Classical Hebrew (Studia Semitica Nederlandica 21 Nederlands: Van
Gorcum, 1985) and B.K. Waltke and M. O'Connor, Biblical Hebrew Syntax, 516-17, in Biblical Hebrew
the verb form with paragogic nun may be a mark of what is termed ‘contrastivity,’ which occurs infre-
quently depending on style and syntax, and indicates that a particular action is unexpected in relation to the
rest of the narrative or contrary to the wishes of one or more protagonists. This explanation has been criti-
cised more recently by S.A. Kaufman, "Paragogic nun in Biblical Hebrew: Hypercorrection as a Clue to a
Lost Scribal Practice," Solving Riddles and Untying Knots: Biblical, Epigraphic, and Semitic Studies in
Honor of Jonas C. Greenfield (eds Z. Zevit, S. Gitin, and M. Sokoloff; Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1995),
who sees the use of paragogic nun in Biblical Hebrew as based on phonological rather than morpho-
syntactic principles. See also T. Zewi, A Syntactic Study of Verbal Forms Affixed by -n(n) Endings in Clas-
sical Arabic, Biblical Hebrew, El-Amarna Akkadian and Ugaritic (Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, 1999) 72-73,
for a critique of Hoftijzer’s position. Alternatively V. de Caën, "Moveable Nun in Biblical Hebrew: Verbal
Nunation in Joel and Job," Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 29, 1 (2003) sees paragogic nun in
Biblical Hebrew as a function of disjunctive accents (pausal forms) and nuanced prosaic phraseology that
introduces disjunction between verb and subject, or verb and object, in certain phono-syntactic situations.
For de Caën the afformative nun is a function of Hebrew grammar rather than a product of cross-linguistic
influence, such as from Aramaic. “Indeed, the frequency of nunation is inversely correlated with the degree
of Aramaic influence on BH” (V. de Caën, "Moveable Nun," 125, italics in original). While this view may
a priori explain the writing of paragogic nun in Qumran Hebrew in a strictly grammatical sense, it remains
the assessment of this study, following T. Zewi, Verbal Forms Affixed by -n(n), 187-88, that the afforma-
tive nun on 2mpl and 3mpl imperfect indicative verbs represents an archaic form that entered Hebrew and
Aramaic from an older linguistic stratum, visible in Amarna Canaanite and Ugaritic as described in A.F.
Rainey, "The Ancient Hebrew Prefix Conjugation in the Light of Amarnah Canaanite," Hebrew Studies 27
(1986) 7 – but see his remarks on Hebrew as a strictly Tranjordanian language in "Inside, Outside: Where
Did the Early Israelites Come From?," BAR 34, 6 (2008) – and in this respect is properly considered part of
the prosaic morphology available to the scribe to be employed as a matter of linguistic style that directly