5. The Perfective Formation Qaṭal in CBH

In chapter 5, the identity of qaṭal as perfective grammatical morpheme is established in Classical Hebrew. It is one of the main basic tenses in the theory of consecutive tenses, and it also supplies the basic verbal morpheme in the construction wa-qaṭal (for this see chapter 5). It is therefore important to investigate the grammaticalisation path of qatal(a) in Semitic. The chapter shows that qaṭal originated from a resultative construction in West Semitic. In its relation to the perfective short yiqṭol (in wa(y)-yiqṭol), which is of Proto Semitic origin, qaṭal is new. But considered on its path of grammaticalisation from a resultative construction it is old in Classical Hebrew. The anterior and past perfective uses dominate in the corpus.