3. Qal versus hifʿil Forms of יס"ף

Throughout the Hebrew Bible, qal and hifʿil forms of the root יס"ף compete in the meaning ‘add, do again’. Examining the distribution of unambiguous consonantal forms, it becomes clear that the qal form is the more archaic, the hifʿil common only in later forms of ancient Hebrew, biblical and extrabiblical, with confirmation from cognate sources. A whole swathe of evidence, however, is consonantally ambiguous. The stem morphology of prefix conjugation (i.e., yiqṭol and wayyiqṭol) forms can be determined only on the basis of plene orthography and vocalisation, and even then is often ambiguous. The discussion centres on the analysis of the equivocal data in light of the unequivocal, highlighting the importance of considering secondary processes and suggesting possible interpretations and ramifications.