Number

occurs in the meaning ‘Hebrew woman’. The plural form of ‘Hebrew woman’ takes the feminine plural marker -öt; thus the plural form ‘Hebrew women’ is `ibriyyöt. (10)

Biblical Hebrew

wayyöº´mer meºlek micraºyim

said.V:QAL.W.CONS.IPRF.MASC king.N:MASC.SG.CONST Egypt

la|myallüdöt hä|`ibriyyöt

to the deliverer.PREP.DEF.V:PIEL.PTCP.FEM.PL.ABS the Hebrews.DEF.N:FEM.PL.ABS

‘then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives […]’

Exod. 1:15 Halich Karaim

dạ ayt:ti mẹlẹk:i micri:nin anạci:lar:gạ

and say:DI.PAST3SG king:POSS3SG Egypt:GEN midwife:PL.DAT ol yišra’ẹlḵa:lar:gạ

that Israelite woman:PL:DAT

‘and the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives’

Exod. 1:15 (127/1)

Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian lexical items with feminine markers were globally copied into HKB, e.g. dunya ‘world, people’ of Arabic origin, micvah ‘command-ment’ of Hebrew origin. The foreign grammatical gender markers have no function in Karaim. The copied lexical items are phonologically, grammatically, and seman-tically adapted to the Karaim grammar. Thus, for example, the Arabic word dunyaa

‘universe, world’ containing the feminine marker called ʼalif Tawiila (Ryding 2005:

123) has been copied as one formal unit with the gender marker. However, the gen-der marker has no differentiating function in Karaim. The word is fully adapted to the Karaim system. Therefore, it can for example take case markers, e.g. Lev.

269/24 dunya:da [world:LOC] ‘in the world’. Similarly, the Hebrew word micwâ

‘commandment’ has been globally copied and behaves as a regular Karaim lexical item disregarding the Hebrew grammatical feminine marker -ā (Waltke & O’Connor 1990:96), e.g. Isa. 477/18 micvah:ni [commandment:ACC] ‘commandment’.

influ-ence on the use of the plural suffix can be assumed (1997: 11). We will illustrate this with examples in which this influence is attested in our corpus.

2.1.1.2.1 Turkic characteristics in plural forms of nouns and number agreement in HKB

Singular forms of nouns can denote an individual or a category in HKB, e.g. Isa.

478/10 ol yamgur [that rain] ‘the rain’. The Turkic plural marker -lAr is used to mark plurality, e.g. Num. 328/5 ol sogan:lar:ni [that onion:PL:ACC] ‘the onions’.

When a noun in the plural has a modifier, the modifier is mostly left in the sin-gular, as is normal in Turkic, e.g. Num. 335/26 yaman ulan:lar išt:i:ne [bad boy:PL top:POSS.3SG:DAT] ‘to the bad boys’. On the other hand, there is agreement between the subject and the predicate with respect to number and person, as it is generally the case in most Turkic languages (Johanson 2002a: 25).⁹ For example, both the subject and the predicate are in the plural in the following (11).

(11)

Halich Karaim

dạ ubul:lar:i yišra’ẹl:nin yạyil:di:lar and son:PL:POSS.3SG Israel:GEN disperse:DI.PST:3PL

‘and the sons of Israel dispersed’

Exod. 1:7 (26/7)

2.1.1.2.2 Copies of non-Turkic characteristics in the use of numbers

In the following, the copying of Hebrew plural marker in lexical items will first be discussed, then the Hebrew influence on the use of the Karaim plural marker will be dealt with. For agreement in number in attributive phrases, see Section 2.5.2.2 (Copied agreement features) in Chapter 2.5 (Adjectives). About agreement patterns in number between numerals and heads, see Section 2.6.2.1 (Copied agreement features) in Chapter 2.6 (Numerals).

2.1.1.2.2.1 Global copies of Hebrew nouns containing a plural marker

Material properties of Hebrew plural markers are mainly copied into Halich Karaim when they occur in names of persons or nations in the original text; see (12). Some-times, however, the Hebrew plural marker is omitted in the Karaim expression; see (13).

As the examples illustrate, the Hebrew nouns in both instances contain a plural marker: ´et-PülišTîm [DIR.OBJ-inhabitants of Philistia:N:PL] ‘inhabitants of Philistia’, wühä|`ammönîm [and the Ammonites.CONJ.DEF.N:PL]‘̒and the Ammonites’. In HKB,

9 Exceptions can also be found; for example, in Tatar and Bashkir plural subjects are mainly followed by predicates in the singular; that is, no number agreement is used. Plural predicates may appear with individual subjects or with more than one subject (Berta 1998: 298).

in contrast, the Hebrew plural marker -îm is not translated in (13): ʻamonlu:lar [Ammonite:PL]‘Ammonites’, but it is preserved in the case of pǝlišṯim ‘Philistine’.

(12)

Biblical Hebrew

wüyäršû […] wühaššüpëlâ

they shall

possess.V:QAL.W.CONS.PRF.3PL

[…] and the lowland.CONJ.DEF.N:FEM.SG.ABS

´et- PülišTîm

DIR.OBJ inhabitants of Philistia.N:PL

‘they shall possess […] the land of the Philistines’

Obad. 1:19 Halich Karaim

da meresle:r:ler […] osol yẹr:i:n pǝlišṯim:nin and inherit:R.NPST:3PL […] that place:POSS3SG:ACC Philistine:GEN

‘and they will take possession […] that land of the Philistines’

Obad. 1:19 (491/8) (13)

Biblical Hebrew

wühä|`ammönîm yiqrü´û

and the Ammonites.CONJ.DEF.N:PL call.V:QAL.IPRF.MASC3PL

lähem zamzummîm

to them.PREP.SUFF:MASC3PL Zamzummim

‘but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim’

Deut. 2:20 Halich Karaim

dạ ol ‘amonlu:lar ata:r:e:di:ler alar:gạ zamzumim and the Ammonite:PL name:R.PST:3PL they:DAT Zamzummim

‘and the Ammonites name them Zamzummim’

Deut. 2:20 (422/8)

Besides personal names and names of nations, Hebrew common nouns in the plural have been copied into HKB; see also Chapter 2.9 (Lexicon). Two of the following Hebrew instances are in the masculine plural form: kǝrubimler ‘cherubims’ in (14), and miknǝsayimler ‘trousers’ in (15). The feminine plural marker -ôt is attached to the third example: cǝbạoṯ ‘army’; see (16). About using the Karaim plural marker after globally copied Hebrew plural forms, see Section 2.1.1.1.2 (Copies of foreign markers of female items in HKB).

(14)

Biblical Hebrew

wayyašKën miqqeºdem

and caused to dwell.V:HIPH.W.CONS.IPRF.MASC3SG from east.PREP.N:MASC.SG.ABS

lügan-`ëºden ´et-haKKürùbîm

to garden of Eden.PREP.N:BOTH.SG.CONST -PROP.N

the cherubim.DIR.OBJ-DEF.N:MASC. PL.ABS

‘and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim’

Gen. 3:24 Halich Karaim

da toxtat:ti mizrax sartin bag bostan:ga and place:DI.PST3SG east from Eden:DAT osol ol kǝrubim:ler:ni

that the cherubim:PL:ACC

‘and he placed to the east of Eden the cherubim’

Gen. 3:24 (7/15) (15)

Biblical Hebrew

ûmi|knüsê- bad

and trousers.CONJ.N:MASC.DUAL.CONST white linen.N:MASC.SG.ABS

yilBaš

he shall put on.V:QAL.IPRF.MASC3SG

`al- BüSärô

on.PREP his flesh.N:MASC.SG.CONST.SUFF:MASC3SG

‘and put his linen breeches upon his body’

Lev. 6:10 Halich Karaim

dạ aḵ miknǝsayim:ler kiy:šin gup:u išt:i:ne

and white trousers:PL wear:VOL3SG body:POSS3SG top:POSS3SG:DAT

‘and (he) shall wear white trousers on his body’

Lev. 6:10 (236/9)

(16)

Biblical Hebrew

´élöhê haccübä´ôt

God of.N:MASC.PL.CONST the army.DEF.N:BOTH.PL.ABS

‘the God of the army’

Hosea 12:5 Halich Karaim

yạratubcu:su cǝbạoṯ:nun creater:POSS3SG army:GEN

‘the Creator of the army’

Hosea 12:5 (510/11)

The Trakai Karaim and the Crimean Karaim translations generally do not have any examples of copied proper names and common nouns with Hebrew plural markers.

However, a few exceptions can be attested in the Trakai Karaim material. For in-stance, the noun ‘cherubim’ is globally copied from Biblical Hebrew into Trakai Karaim (Kowalski 1929a: 50). However, the Karaim plural marker is not added to the noun in the Trakai Karaim text; compare (14) and (17).

(17)

Trakai Karaim

da toχtat:ty mizraχ sartyn and place:DI.PST3SG east from ašai̭yš baγ:γa oł ḱeruvim:ni

Eden:DAT the cherubim:ACC

‘and he placed to the east of Eden the cherubim’

Gen. 3:24

Another interesting example of the Trakai Karaim translation is the use of łuχot

‘tablet’ which occurs with the Karaim plural marker in Sol. 1:13 (Kowalski 1929a:

40), although the Hebrew original text does not even contain the word in this verse;

see (18). The form łuχot is the global copy of the noun lûaḥ ‘tablet, plank, board’ in the plural (TWOT 1091a).

(18)

Biblical Hebrew

cürôr hammör

bundle.N:MASC.SG.CONST the myrrh.DEF.N:MASC.SG.ABS

Dôdî lî

my beloved.MASC.SG.CONST.SUFF:1SG to me.PREP.SUFF:1SG

Bên šäday yälîn

between my breasts.N:MASC.DUAL.CONST.SUFF:1SG lay.V:QAL.IPRF.MASC.3SG

‘my beloved is to me a bag of myrrh, that lies between my breasts.’

Sol. 1:13 Trakai Karaim

eki oł łuχot:łar:y šerť:niń two the tablet:PL:POSS3SG covenant:GEN ťuv’uńč’uģ:u kibik oł mušk:nun bundle:POSS3SG like the musk:GEN γašgaχa:sy ťeńri:niń

supervision:POSS3SG God:GEN

ara:sy:na oł eki ḱeruvim:niń

between:POSS3SG:DAT the two cherubim:GEN

‘the two tablets of the covenant are like the bundle of musk, the supervision of God between the two cherubims’

Sol. 1:13 H̠aki’s Turkish translation usually reflects the original Hebrew plural markers in proper names and common nouns. For example, H̠ aki always uses the fẹlịstim / fẹlẹstim / felẹstim form, which is the Hebrew form including the masculine plural marker for ‘Philistine’, and ʻastaros ‘Ashtaroth’ with the Hebrew feminine plural marker for the name of a goddess and a place. In the noun terafim ‘idols’, the mas-culine plural marker can be found (Neudecker 1994: 325–326).

Similar to copied Hebrew plural markers, the external plural of Arabic can also be observed in some cases in HKB, e.g. Exod. 162/4 valayat ‘province’ and Exod.

163/23 sarayat ‘law’. Both words appear once in the text and are in both cases used in the singular form. The noun vałai̭at ‘province’ also occurs in the Trakai Karaim Bible translations published by Kowalski, but not in the Crimean Karaim texts.

2.1.1.2.2.2 Copies of combinational features Selective copying of marking plurality

In Biblical Hebrew, animacy and countability are relevant for plural marking. This means that a countable noun can take the plural marker, but an uncountable noun is basically in the singular. However, in some cases the plural marker is also attached to uncountable nouns. For example, collectives, expressions of extensions, and ab-stract nouns can be in the plural as well. Therefore, the plural form of the nouns

‘water’ and ‘heaven’ as collective nouns is normal in Biblical Hebrew (Waltke &

O’Connor 1990: 118–121).

Due to the literal translation of the biblical texts, it seems that the use of plural markers in HKB is mainly influenced by the plurality/singularity of the original Hebrew text. For example, the nouns sub ‘water’ and keḵ ‘heaven’ follow the He-brew pattern by taking a plural marker in (19) and (20).

(19)

Biblical Hebrew

min- hammaºyim

from.PREP the waters.PREP-DEF.N:MASC.PL.ABS

müšîtiºhû

I drew him.V:QAL.PRF1SG.SUFF:MASC3SG

‘I drew him out of the water’

Exod. 2:10 Halich Karaim

ol sub:lar:dan tart:ti:m ani the water:PL:ABL draw:DI.PST:1SG he:ACC

‘I drew him out of the waters’

Exod. 2:10 (128/24) (20)

Biblical Hebrew bôrë´

create.V:QAL.PTCP.MASC.SG.ABS

šämaºyim Hádäšîm

heavens.N:MASC.PL.ABS new.ADJ:MASC.PL.ABS

‘I create new heavens’

Isa. 65:17 Halich Karaim

yạrạt:i:mẹn yangi keḵ:ler create:A.NPST:1SG new heaven:PL

‘I will create new heavens’

Isa. 65:17 (496/3)

Similarly to HKB, the Trakai Karaim translation always reflects the Hebrew plural forms, e.g. (21) and (22) taken from Kowalski 1929a: 46.

(21)

Trakai Karaim

bašłyγ:y:nda i̯aratyłmaχ:nyn beginning:POSS3SG:LOC creation:GEN i̯arat:ty ťeńri oł ḱok:lar:ni create:DI.PST3SG God the heaven:PL:ACC

‘in the beginning of creation created God the heavens’

Gen. 1:1 (22)

Trakai Karaim

boł:sun avłaχłyχ orta:sy:nda oł suv:łar:nyn be:VOL3SG place middle:POSS3SG:LOC the water:PL:GEN

‘let there be a place in the middle of the waters’

Gen. 1:6

On the other hand, the plural forms of the nouns ‘water’ and ‘heaven’ do not con-sistently follow the Hebrew pattern in the Crimean Karaim translation. Although the original Hebrew text contains plural forms in both cases, the noun ‘heaven’ is used in the singular in (23), whereas plurality of the noun ‘water’ is always translated into Crimean Karaim; see, for example, (24) (Jankowski 1990: 29).

(23)

Biblical Hebrew

Bürë´šît Bärä´ ´élöhîm

in beginning.PREP.N:FEM.SG.ABS created.V:QAL.PRF.3SG.MASC God

´ët haššämaºyim

DIR.OBJ the heavens.DEF.N:MASC.PL.ABS

‘in the beginning God created the heavens’

Gen. 1:1 Crimean Karaim

ävväl baš:ta yarat:tï taŋrï šol kök:ni before head:LOC create:DI.PST3SG God that heaven:ACC

‘in the beginning God created the heaven’

1a (1) (24)

Biblical Hebrew

yühî räqîª`

let it be.V:QAL.IPRF.MASC3SG.JUSS an extended surface.N:MASC.SG.ABS

Bütôk hammäºyim

in midst of.PREP.N:MASC.SG.CONST the waters.DEF.N:MASC.PL.ABS

‘let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters’

Gen. 1:6 Crimean Karaim

bol:sun tabaqa orta:sï:nda ol suw:lar:nïŋ

become, be:VOL3SG expanse middle:POSS3SG:LOC the water:PL:GEN

‘let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters’

1a (12)–(13)

H̠aki’s Turkish translation prefers the singular forms of these nouns, but exceptions can be found in his translation as well. For instance, the noun ‘water’ is in the plural once and the noun ‘heaven’ takes the plural marker twice in the text; see (25), (26), and (27) (Neudecker 1994: 158; 199; 200).

(25)

H̠aki’s translation

ve ʼah̠z̠̯̯̯̯̯̯ ʼet:di:m ṣu̠:lar şehr:i̠:ni̠

and take:DI.PST:1SG water:PL city:POSS3SG:ACC

‘and I took the city of waters’

2Sam. 12:17 (26)

H̠aki’s translation

gök:ler:iŋ tẹmẹl:leri̠ dịtre:di̠

heaven:PL:GEN foundation:POSS3PL tremble:DI.PST3SG

‘the foundations of the heavens trembled’

2Sam. 22:8 (27)

H̠aki’s translation

ve mẹyl ʼet:di̠ gö̠k:ler:i̠

and stretch:DI.PST3SG heaven:PL:ACC

‘and stretched the heavens’

2Sam. 22:10

The attempt of the Halich Karaim translator to render the Hebrew Bible as closely to the original as possible results in some interesting forms of the use of the plural marker, for instance in the translation of the noun ‘blood’. The noun sometimes appears in the singular in HKB, see (28), and sometimes in the plural; see (29). The concept of the singularity/plurality of the noun ‘blood’ in HKB can be understood on the basis of the original Hebrew text.

In Biblical Hebrew, “the plural of a singular collective noun can indicate compo-sition, that is, that the collectivity has been broken apart” (Waltke & O’Connor 1990: 119–120). The noun ‘blood’ is in the singular when the blood is in the body;

see for instance (28) in which the blood of a human being is not actually spilled, but rather the sin of murder and its consequence are discussed.¹⁰ The noun ‘blood’ is in the plural, on the other hand, when it is spilled; consider the Hebrew form in (29).

This phenomenon has been copied into Karaim, where the noun is in the singular, ḵan:i:n ol adam:nin [blood:POSS3SG:ACC the man:GEN]ʻblood of the man’ and ḵạn:i anin [blood:POSS3SG (s)he:GEN]‘his/her blood’, when it refers to the blood of the victim of a possible crime and to the blood of a possible murderer. However, the noun ‘blood’ is in the plural when it is used to express the blood of murdered Abel:

ḵan:lar:i:nin ḵarindas:in:nin [blood:PL:POSS3SG:GEN brother:POSS2SG:GEN] ‘the blood of your brother’.

(28)

Biblical Hebrew

šöpëk Dam hä|´ädäm

pouring out.

V:QAL.PTCP.MAS.SG.CONST

blood

of.N:MASC.SG.CONST the

man.DEF.N:MASC.SG.ABS

Bä|´ädäm Dämô yiššäpëk

by

man.PREP.N:MASC.SG.ABS his

blood.N:MASC.SG.CONST.SUFF :MASC3SG

shall be poured out.V:NIPH.IPRF.MASC 3SG

‘Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed’

Gen. 9:6 Halich Karaim

tegibci ḵan:i:n ol adam:nin shedder blood:POSS3SG:ACC the man:GEN

ekinci adam asirạ ḵạn:i anin tegil:ir

other man by blood:POSS3SG he:GEN spill out:R.NPST3SG

‘the one who sheds blood of the man, by other man shall his/her blood spill out’

Gen. 9:6 (16/24) (29)

Biblical Hebrew qôl

voice.N:MASC.SG.CONST

10 The Halich Karaim example is part of the manuscript but not part of the corpus of the present study.

Dümê ´äHîºkä

blood.N:MASC.PL.CONST your brother.N:MASC.SG.CONST.SUFF:MASC2SG

cö`áqîm ´ëlay

crying.V:QAL.PTCP.MASC.PL.ABS to me.PREP.SUFF:1SG

‘the voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me’

Gen. 4:10 Halich Karaim

avaz:i ḵan:lar:i:nin ḵarindas:in:nin voice:POSS3SG blood:PL:POSS3SG:GEN brother:POSS2SG:GEN

piryat et:e:diler mana

cry:A.NPST:3PL I:DAT

‘the voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me’

Gen. 4:10 (8/10)

In the Trakai Karaim corpus published by Kowalski, the plural or singular use of kan

‘blood’ follows the number marking of the Hebrew noun. Therefore we find the plural of the noun in Gen. 4:10 (Kowalski 1929a: 50), just as in HKB.

(30)

Trakai Karaim

avaz:y kan:łar:y:nyn karandaš:yi̭:nyn voice:POSS3SG blood:PL:POSS3SG:GEN brother:POSS2SG:GEN

firi̭at eť:a:dirlar mai̭a

cry:A.NPST:3PL I:DAT

‘the voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me’

Gen. 4:10

The few published Crimean Karaim texts do not contain any examples in which the noun ‘blood’ is in the plural. All instances stand in the singular. The nouns in the Hebrew originals of these samples are also in the singular; see (31) (Jankowski 1997: 49).

(31)

Biblical Hebrew Kî

dam-for blood of.N:MASC.SG.CONST

`ábädäyw yiqqôm

his servants.N:MASC.PL.CONST.SUFF:MASC3SG avenges.V:QAL.IPRF.MASC3SG

‘for he avenges the blood of his servants’

Deut. 32:43 Crimean Karaim

ki qan:ï:n qul:lar:ï:nïŋ öč al:ïr

for blood:POSS3SG:ACC servant:PL:POSS3SG:GEN avenge take:R.NPST3SG

‘for the blood of his servants he takes revenge’

244b (9) As a result of the copying of plural forms in cases where it is not typical of Turkic, the frequential property of the plural marker has also changed in the Karaim lan-guage of the translation.

In document To Amelija Abrahamowicz (Pldal 71-82)