Making Sense of Destruction: A Frame-Semantic Analysis of šḥt in the Hebrew Bible
General Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6573/15345Keywords:
frame semantics, destruction, שׁחת, cognitive linguistics, Hebrew BibleAbstract
The verb šḥt is worthy of investigation. It is a prominent verb of destruction that occurs throughout the Hebrew Bible. It is also polysemous. Furthermore, its basic meaning has not yet been determined in the various reference works and it defies the traditional wisdom that specific stems have specific meanings. Great advances have been made in utilising cognitive linguistic (CL) methodologies to interpret the Hebrew Bible (HB). We are not aware of any robust attempt at using insights from CL to investigate the meaning of šḥt. For this study, we utilised frame semantics (FS) and several other CL methodologies to gain insight into the semantic force of šḥt in the HB.
Metrics
References
Anderson, A. A. 2000. 2 Samuel. Word Biblical Commentary Volume 11. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Ashley, Timothy R. 1993. The Book of Numbers. NICOT. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Barr, James. 1961. The Semantics of Biblical Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Barr, James. 1968. Comparative Philology and the Text of the Old Testament. With Additions and Corrections. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
Barr, James. 1992. “Hebrew Lexicography: Informal Thoughts.” In Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew, edited by Walter R. Bodine, 137–51. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
Block, Daniel I. 2015. Ruth. Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Brown, Francis, Samuel Rolles Driver, and Charles Augustus Briggs. 1977. Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Brugman, Claudia, and George Lakoff. “Cognitive Topography and Lexical Networks.” Accessed December 7, 2023. https://georgelakoff.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/cognitive-topology-and-lexical-networks-lakoff-and-brugman-1988.pdf. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-051013-2.50022-7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-051013-2.50022-7
Burton, Marilyn E. 2017a. Semantics of Glory: A Cognitive, Corpus-Based Approach to Hebrew Word Meaning. Studia Semitica Neerlandica 68. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004342170 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004342170
Burton, Marylyn E. 2017b. “Cognitive Methodology in the Study of an Ancient Language: Impediments and Possibilities.” In From Ancient Manuscripts to Modern Dictionaries, edited by Tarsee Li and Keith Dyer, 213–26. Piscataway: Gorgias Press. https://doi.org/10.31826/9781463237073-013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31826/9781463237073-013
Campbell, Edward F., Jr. 1975. Ruth: A New Translation with Introduction, Notes, and Commentary. Anchor Yale Bible. Garden City: Double Day.
Clines, David J. A. 2011. The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew. 8 vols. Sheffield. Sheffield Academic Press.
Conrad, J. 2004. “שָׁחַת.” In Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, edited by G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren, and Hans-Josef Fabry, 14/583–95. Translated by David E. Green and Douglas W. Stott. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Croft, William, and D. Alan Cruse. 2004. Cognitive Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511803864 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511803864
Evans, Vyvyan, and Melanie Green. 2006. Cognitive Linguistics: An Introduction. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Fillmore, Charles J. 1976. “Frame Semantics and the Nature of Language.” Annals of the New York Academy of Science 281 (1): 20–32. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1976.tb25467.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1976.tb25467.x
Fillmore, Charles J. 2006. “Frame Semantics.” In Cognitive Linguistics: Basic Readings, edited by Dirk Geeraerts, 373–400. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110199901.373 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110199901.373
Garr, W. Randall, and Steven E. Fassberg. 2016. A Handbook of Biblical Hebrew. Volume 1. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781575063720 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781575063720
Gesenius, Wilhelm, and Samuel Prideaux Tregelles. 2003. Gesenius’ Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures. Bellingham: Logos Bible Software. Logos.
Grasso, Kevin. 2021. “Verbs of Judgment in Biblical Hebrew: A Lexical Semantic Analysis.” PhD diss., Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Hamilton, Victor P. 1995. The Book of Genesis: 18–50. NICOT. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Harland, P. J. 1996. The Value of Human Life: A Study of the Story of the Flood (Gen 6–9). Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004275881 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004275881
Jenni, Ernst. 1968. Das Hebräische Pi‘el: Syntaktisch-semasiologishche Untersuchung einer Verbalform im Alten Testament. Zurich: EVZ Verlag.
Joubert, Marcus. 2021. “Towards the Concept of Praise in the Hebrew Bible.” MA thesis, Stellenbosch University.
Koehler, Ludwig, Walter Baumgartner, M. E. J. Richardson, and Johann Jacob Stamm. 2000. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/2352-3433_halot_all DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/2352-3433_halot_all
Langacker, R. W. 2008. Cognitive Grammar: A Basic Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331967.001.0001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331967.001.0001
Lexham Press. 2012. The Lexham Hebrew Bible. Bellingham: Lexham Press.
Lindars, Barnabas, SSF. 1995. Judges 1–5: A New Translation and Commentary. London: T&T Clark.
Minsky, M. Marvin. 1975. “A Framework for Presenting Knowledge.” In The Psychology of Computer Vision. McGraw-Hill Computer Science Series, edited by Patrick Henry Winston, 211–77. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
Olyan, Saul M. 1996 “Honor, Shame, and Covenant Relations in Ancient Israel and Its Environment.” Journal of Biblical Literature 115(2):201–218. https://doi.org/10.2307/3266852. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3266852
O’Connor, M. 2002. “Semitic Lexicography: European Dictionaries of Biblical Hebrew in the Twentieth Century.” In Semitic Linguistics: The State of the Art at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century, edited by S. Izre’el, 173–212. Israel Oriental Studies 20. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
Sarna, Nahum M. 1989. The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society.
Shead, Stephen L. 2011. Radical Frame Semantics and Biblical Hebrew: Exploring Lexical Semantics. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004222182 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004222182
Taylor, John R. 2003. “Categories and Concepts.” In Job 28: Cognition in Context, edited by Ellen van Wolde, 163–78. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004496781_010 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004496781_010
Tyler, Adrea, and Vyvyan Evans. 2003. The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning, and Cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486517.003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486517
Van Dam, Cornelis. 1997. “šḥt.” In New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, edited by Willem A. Van Gemeren, 4/92–93. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Van der Merwe, Christo H. J., Jacobus, A. Naudé, and Jan H. Kroeze. 2017. A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar. 2nd ed. London: Bloomsbury.
Van Wolde, E. J., ed. 2003. Job 28: Cognition in Context. Biblical Interpretation Series. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004496781 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004496781
Van Wolde, E. J. 2009. Reframing Biblical Studies: When Language and Text Meet Culture, Cognition, and Context. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. https://doi.org/10.5325/j.ctv1bxh5hf DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781575066202
Vetter D. 1997. “šḥt.” In Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament, edited by Ernst Jenni and Claus Westermann, 1317–19. Translated by Mark E. Biddle. Peabody: Hendrikson Publishers.
Weil, Gérard, E. K. Elliger, and W. Rudolph. 1997. Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. 5th rev. ed. Stuttgart; Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft.
Ziegert, Carsten. 2020. “What is ḥesed? A Frame-Semantic Approach.” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 44 (4): 711–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309089219862806 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0309089219862806
Ziegert, Carsten. 2021. “A Case for Grace? Case-Grammar, Frame-Semantics, and Biblical Hebrew ḥēn.” Vetus Testamentum 71(1): 133–50. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685330-12341442 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/15685330-12341442
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Unisa PressAccepted 2023-12-11
Published 2023-12-18