Oath formulae in Classical Hebrew and other Semitic languages

This dissertation fills a gap in the scholarly study of Classical Hebrew grammar and syntax with the first comprehensive study of oath formulae. The difficult and elliptical nature of oath syntax, along with the multitude of diverse formulae employed, has often given scholars and students difficulties in the interpretation of already difficult passages. This study contends that a spoken Hebrew oath has a binary structure. The first element is the authenticating element. A number of heterogeneous formulae fulfill this function of authentication, including the "I swear," the "thus will X do," and the "life of X" formulae. The second element is the actual content of the oath. The content of the oath may be formulated as a partial conditional clause, or as a ky clause. Both types of formulations fit within well-established categories of analysis for their respective clauses. The conditional formulations consist of conditional protases with the apodoses elided. We have argued that the ky clause is an object complement clause of the verb to swear, which is often elided, "[I swear] that..." We have also demonstrated that the alleged use of the compound particle ky'm in formulating oaths is without foundation. With regard to other Semitic languages, the most comparably relevant body of oath data is in Akkadian. The Akkadian and Hebrew systems have important points of continuity as well as discontinuity.