List of Terms for Biblical Grammar

Unknown

8th Century

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, the Lord of hosts, and the blessed One. His name is blessed in the mouths of all living creatures. The great God over everything, He is known through His world, and His world is [known] through His people Israel, and Israel is [known] as His people through scripture. Scripture is in writing, and the writing is in the form of words, and the words are composed of letters, and the letters have vowels, and the vowels are derived by tradition, and the tradition is a safeguard for the Torah. And the Torah is known through its explanation, and the explanation is based on [drawing a] comparison to something analogous, and that comparison is to something in a context, and it is understood by its context. Whenever a case has nothing with which to compare it, [and therefore has] no clear context, it is not [known] truly. The following terms refer to what is clear and what is hidden in scripture, which every person must know. Anyone who knows them, or at least part of them, is a student of the masters of scriptural study. And anyone who does not know them does not know how to read, and if he does read, he will err and will gain no knowledge.

And these are all the terms:

Open and closed sections.
When something is read differently from how it is written.
When a phrase is completed by adding meaning that lies outside the text [see b. Nedarim 37b].¹
Text that is only read orally.
Defective and full [complete] orthography.
Large letters.
Small letters.
Backward letters.
Dots over letters.
Suspended letters.
A fortiori arguments.
Strong and weak letters.
Connected and separated words.²
The connected to the connected.
The separated of the separated.³
A noun that stands by itself.
A word that refers to another clause in the verse [and similar cases].⁴
[The ends of verses,] including truncated conclusions.
The beginning, [middle], and end of a topic.
When two meanings are contained in one word, so that together they complete the idea.
The subject and object of a nominal sentence.⁵
Past and future.
The future that turns into the past.
The definite article and the indefinite article.
Statements and questions.
Statements that turn into questions.
Questions that turn into statements.
Masculine and feminine forms.
Expressions of mercy and expressions of anger.
The holy tongue [Hebrew], Aramaic, and the Ishmaelite language [Arabic].
The reversal of the natural order of elements.
Pauses.
Drawn-out syllables.
Interruptions [between words].⁶
Great matters and minor matters.
The future tense and the past tense.
Expanded and truncated forms of words.
Literal and metaphorical expressions.
Bent-over letters.
Closed-up letters.
The pausal form of a word that is connected in its sense with what follows.
A pausal accent making a pause in sense.

All these are principles of biblical study.

Translated by Avi Steinhart.

Notes

[This phrase can also be read: “When one wrongly thinks a word should be read differently, for logical reasons or due to similar, external cases.”—Trans.]

[Or, “The absolute form of a noun” or “Pausal form.”—Trans.]

[Or, “The absolutely separated” or “Unnecessary repetitions.”—Trans.]

[Or, “A verb and its forms.”—Trans.]

[Or, “The primary imperative and its derivation.”—Trans.]

[To ensure that they are not read together.—Trans.]

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam.