--- title: "The Biblical Hebrew Feminine Singular Qal Participle: A Historical Reconstruction — Price 2014" description: "The feminine singular qal active participle has an untidy paradigm: absolute forms in -â (qōṭəlâ, qōṭēlâ) beside segolate forms in -et…" authors: ["J.H. Price"] year: 2014 venue: "Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 14" source: "https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs.2014.v14.a9" doi: "10.5508/jhs.2014.v14.a9" licence: "JHS open access; no licence statement on this article page — not verified, read only" summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License" canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/price-2014-biblical-hebrew-feminine-singular-qal/" --- [Elamur Research](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/price-2014-biblical-hebrew-feminine-singular-qal/) [home](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [papers](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/) / [2014](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2014/page/3/) / The Biblical Hebrew Feminine Singular Qal Participle: A Historical Reconstruction # The Biblical Hebrew Feminine Singular Qal Participle: A Historical Reconstruction **Authors:** J. H. Price · **Year:** 2014 · **Venue:** Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 14, article 10 **Link:** [jhsonline.org/index.php/jhs/article/view/29340](https://jhsonline.org/index.php/jhs/article/view/29340) · **Licence:** copyrighted — summary only (JHS open access; no licence statement on this article page) [**1** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W2727500842) OpenAlex, 2026-10-14 · [Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 14](https://openalex.org/S2764683527) - [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs.2014.v14.a9) - [PDF](https://jhsonline.org/index.php/jhs/article/download/29340/21360) - [DOI 10.5508/jhs.2014.v14.a9](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs.2014.v14.a9) - [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W2727500842) **Authors (1)** 1. J.H. Price [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/2072403112) Citations and author metrics: OpenAlex, 2026-10-14; authors with the same name are not always told apart. ## What it is about The feminine singular qal active participle has an untidy paradigm: absolute forms in -â (qōṭəlâ, qōṭēlâ) beside segolate forms in -et (qōṭelet, qōṭalat near gutturals, rarely qōṭalt), construct only in -et, and suffixed forms with an a-vowel and a t before the suffix (qōṭalt-). The author reconstructs a single Proto-Hebrew form *qōṭiltu with the -t ending (the participle, unlike ordinary nouns, prefers -t). The absolute -â forms were made later by analogy with the noun system's preference for -â. The suffixed qōṭalt- forms arose after segolization, by analogy with qeṭel nouns and the -elet ending, helped by the interplay of segol with pataḥ and ḥireq. The argument uses comparative Semitic data, the Masoretic vocalization and the distribution of the six forms over the syntactic environments. ## Ideas - I1. Count the six feminine singular qal participle shapes in the Torah by environment (absolute, construct, with suffix), using MACULA's morphology and the vowel pattern of the ending; put the table in the noun/verb morphology chapters as the Torah's own distribution. - I2. A check on the morphology data: every word ending in -elet/-alat that MACULA tags as a participle should be feminine singular, and every qal fs participle should end in -â or -(e/a)t; list the exceptions as possible tagging errors or real rarities. - I3. For the learner's paradigm table, give both absolute forms (יֹשֶׁבֶת and the -â type) as equally normal, with the note that construct and suffixed forms always take the t. ## For Mova I1 and I3 belong to [languages/hbo/06-verb.md](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/hbo/06-verb/) (participles) and `04-noun.md` (feminine endings, segolates). I2 is a consistency check on the MACULA FEATS, a candidate for the known-defects list in `13-mova-tools.md` (section 13). Nothing here touches `prag`. ## Institutions [🎓**The Ohio State University** Columbus · United States 46 works · 16,163 citations](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/universities/the-ohio-state-university/) Topics[Hebrew & Aramaic](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/hebrew-aramaic/) · [Semitic languages](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/semitic-languages/) · [Historical linguistics & language change](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/language-change/) ## Cite Cite as J.H. Price. 2014. The Biblical Hebrew Feminine Singular Qal Participle: A Historical Reconstruction. Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 14. The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. [DOI 10.5508/jhs.2014.v14.a9](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs.2014.v14.a9) ```bibtex @article{price2014biblical, title = {{The Biblical Hebrew Feminine Singular Qal Participle: A Historical Reconstruction}}, author = {J.H. Price}, journal = {Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 14}, year = {2014}, doi = {10.5508/jhs.2014.v14.a9}, url = {https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs.2014.v14.a9} } ``` - [← previous Representing Caused Motion in Embodied Construction Grammar](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/dodge-2014-representing-caused-motion-embodied-construction/) - [next → Again on the ‘Yemenite Connection’ of Andalusi Arabic and Other Western Arabic Dialects](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/corriente-2026-again-yemenite-connection-andalusi-arabic/) - [↑ back to papers of 2014](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2014/page/3/)