Octosyllabism in Biblical Hebrew Poetry: Toward a Tetrametrical Analysis Vincent DeCaen

1. Octosyllabism in Biblical Hebrew Poetry: Toward a Tetrametrical Analysis Vincent DeCaen University of Toronto <decaen@decaen.ca> But seek alone to hear the strange things said By God to the bright hearts of those long dead, And learn to chaunt a tongue men do not know. —Yeats, “To the Rose upon the Rood of Time” 

2. x x x (x x dǝ bar dā bār x x (x x dǝ bā rîm

3. x x x) x (x x (x x yā nû aḥ lî (Job 3:13bβ) x x x) (x x (x x po ˁŏ lô (Psalm 111:3aβ) x x x) (xx (x x šām hûˀ (Job 3:19aβ)

4. Acrostics: Statistical profiles by syllable counts

5. zǝ kōr YH WH meh hā yâ lā nû * * * * * * * * * 0

6. zǝ kōr YH WH meh hā yâ lā nû * *) * *) * *) * *) * 0

7. zǝ kōr YH WH meh hā yâ lā nû * *) * *) * *) * *) * 0   * * * * 1

8. zǝ kōr YH WH meh hā yâ lā nû * *) * *) * *) * *) * 0   * *) * *) 1

9. zǝ kōr YH WH meh hā yâ lā nû * *) * *) * *) * *) * 0   * *) * *) 1 * * 2

10. zǝ kōr YH WH meh hā yâ lā nû * *) * *) * *) * *) * 0   * *) * *) 1 * *) 2

11. zǝ kōr YH WH meh hā yâ lā nû * *) * *) * *) * *) * 0   * *) * *) 1 * *) 2 * 3

12. Proverbs 31:10a ˀē šet ḥa yil mî yim ṣāˀ *) * *) * *) * *) 0 * *) * *) 1 * *) 2 * 3

13. Psalms 111:1a || 9:2a ˀô deh YH WH bǝ kol lē bāb ˀô deh YH WH bǝ kol lib bî * *) * *) * *) * *) 0 * *) * *) 1 * *) 2 * 3 

14. Psalms 112:1a ˀaš rê ˀîš yā rēˀ ˀet YH WH *) * *) * *) * * *) 0 * *) * *) 1 * *) 2 * 3

15. Nahum 1:2a ˀēl qan nôˀ wǝ nō qēm YH WH *) * *) * * *) * *) 0 * *) * *) 1 * *) 2 * 3

16. Job 3:3a yōˀ bad yôm ˀiw wā led bô *) * *) * *) * *) 0 * *) * *) 1 * *) 2 * 3

17. Psalm 111:5a ṭe rep nā tan lî rē ˀāyw *) * * *) * * *) 0 *) * *) 1 * *) 2 * 3

18. Psalm 111:1b bə sôd yə šā rîm wə ˁē dâ * *) * * *) * * *) 0 *) * *) 1 * ← *) 2 * 3

19. Job 3:13b yā šan tîˀāz yā nûaḥ lî * *) * *) * *) *) 0 ↑

20. Job 3:13b yā šan tîˀāz yā nû aḥ lî * *) * *) * *) * *) 0 * *) * *) 1 * *) 2 * 3

21. Psalm 111:2a gə dō lîm maˁ śê YH WH * * *) * *) * *) 0 ↑

22. Psalm 111:2a gā dō lîm maˁ śê YH WH *) * *) * *) * *) 0 * *) * *) 1 * *) 2 *

23. Job 3:4a hay yôm ha hûˀ yǝ hî ḥō šek * *) * *) * * *) * 0 ↑ ↑

24. Job 3:4a hay yôm ha hûˀ yé hî ḥō šek * *) * *) * *) * *) * 0 * *) * *) 1 * *) 2 * 3

25. Job 3:9a yeḥ šə kû kô kǝ bê niš pô *) * *) * * *) * *) 0 ↑ ↑

26. Job 3:9a yeḥ šā́ kû kô kǝ bê niš pô * *) * *) * *) * *) 0 * *) * *) 1 * *) 2 * 3

27. Psalm 111:5a ṭe rep nā tan lî́ rē ˀā́yw *) * * *) *) * *) 0 ↑

28. Psalm 111:5a ṭe rep nā tā́n lî́ rē ˀā́yw * *) * *) * *) * *) 0 * *) * *) 1 * *) 2 * 3

29. TIBERIAN HEBREW PHONOLOGY

30. Culley, R.C. 1970. ‘Metrical Analysis of Classical Hebrew Poetry’, in J.W. Wevers and D.B. Redford (eds), Essays on the Ancient Semitic World (Toronto Semitic Texts and Studies, Toronto). 12-28 • DeCaen, Vincent. 2009a. “Theme and Variation in Psalm 111: Phrase and Foot in Generative-Metrical Perspective”. Journal of Semitic Studies. • DeCaen, Vincent. 2009b. “On the Formal Definition of ‘Long Word’ in Tiberian Hebrew: Diagnostic, Database, Generative Analysis, and Implications”. IOMS/SBL Boston/2008, revised Feb/2009. • <http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~decaen/papers/>. • DeCaen, Vincent. 2003. “Hebrew Sonority and Tiberian Contact Anaptyxis: The Case of Verbs primae gutturalis.” Journal of Semitic Studies 48.1: 35-46. • Dresher, B. Elan. 1994. ‘The Prosodic Basis of the Tiberian Hebrew System of Accents’. Language 70:1, 1-52 • Dresher, B. Elan, and Nila Friedberg (eds). 2006. Formal Approaches to Poetry: Recent Developments in Metrics. (Phonology and Phonetics 11. Mouton de Gruyter). • Fabb, Nigel. 1997. Linguistics and Literature: Language in the Verbal Arts of the World. (Blackwell Textbooks in Linguistics 12. Oxford) • Fabb, Nigel, Moris Halle, with Carlos Piera. 2008. Meter in Poetry: A New Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Fokkelman, J. P. 2003. Major Poems of the Hebrew Bible: At the Interface of Hermeneutics and Structural Analysis. Vol. 3, The Remaining 65 Psalms. (Studia Semitica Neerlandica 43. Assen) • Khan, Geoffrey. 1987. ‘Vowel Length and Syllable Structure in the Tiberian Tradition of Biblical Hebrew’. Journal of Semitic Studies 32:1, 23-82 • Khan, Geoffrey. 1996. ‘The Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew’. Zeitschrift für Althebraistik 9:1, 1-23 • Price, James D. 1990. The Syntax of Masoretic Accents in the Hebrew Bible. (Studies in the Bible and Early Christianity 27. Lewiston NY) • Revell, E. J. 1987. Nesiga (Retraction of Word Stress) in Tiberian Hebrew. (Textos y estudios. Madrid) • Vance, Donald R. 2001. The Question of Meter in Biblical Hebrew Poetry. (Studies in Bible and Early Christianity 46. Lewiston NY)