Hebrew Searches

The following information is helpful for understanding how to perform Hebrew searches.

Working in the Search TabWorking in the Search Tab

Choosing Lexical Inflected, or Letters FormsChoosing Lexical Inflected, or Letters Forms

  • Words and phrases can be entered as either lexical or inflected forms.
  • Click Search>Enter Lexical Forms or Search>Enter Inflected Forms.
  • If a word is not enclosed in quotation marks, it is treated as a lexical formClosed The canonical (dictionary) form of a word.
  • To find an inflected formClosed The word as it appears in the original text, which may be modified from its base dictionary form in a tagged text, enclose it in plain quotation marks.
  • A phrase can be made up of lexical or inflected forms, tag constraints or any combination.
  • If the phrase includes inflected forms, either the entire phrase or each individual word must be enclosed in quotation marks.
  • If quotation marks are not used, each word of the phrase is treated as a lexical form, and any phrases formed from these lexical forms are found when the search is performed.

Note

In tagged Hebrew texts, all prefixes and suffixes are treated as separate words for search purposes.

Thus בְּמִצְרַיִם (in Egypt) is split into its components בְּ מִצְרַיִם both for searching the text, in the Parsing, Analysis, and Table tabs, and for the count of words for the WITHIN command.

 

Choosing Root FormsChoosing Root Forms

  • Words or phrases can be entered as a root form by doing one of the following:
  • Opt+Click Search>Enter Root Forms.
  • Right-click in the Search Entry box and choose Enter>Root Forms.
    In either case, the Select Root Forms dialog box appears.
  • The word must be preceded by a plus sign. The plus sign is entered automatically when working via the Select Root Forms dialog box.
    If entered manually, be sure the plus sign complies with right-to-left text entry; for example: אב+.

Prefixes and Suffixes as Separate Words in "Words" SearchesPrefixes and Suffixes as Separate Words in "Words" Searches

The primary difference between "Letters" and "Words" searches is that a "Words" search requires that prefixes and suffixes be separated from the word itself. For example, if you copy בְּמִצְרַיִם from the text pane to the entry box, it must appear as בְּ מִצְרַיִם in order to find similar forms. The Search AmplifyClosed To select words or a reference and search for the selection in the text or tool of your choice. You can select the resource in the Library or Amplify menus. A triple-click is a shortcut which amplifies to the top tool of the relevant category. feature via the Amplify menu automatically separates the lexical forms with a space.

Notes

The Hebrew suffix does not have a lexical form. To search for a suffix, either enter the inflected form using quotation marks or define it using the tag details.

A small circle appears in the text to identify a suffix which has no inflected form because it is combined with the preceding word. For example, in 1Sam 2:24 בָּנָי meaning “my sons” included the י with the word rather than as a suffix.

 

Vowel Points and Other MarksVowel Points and Other Marks

The Hebrew text consists of the following elements: the consonants or letters such as א and ב, the vowel points under and over the letters such as אֳ and אׁ, the dagesh point inside letters, and the cantillation marks (te‘amim or accents) such as and . The cantillation marks only apply to the Bible text.

Since the default Accordance search is consonantal, only the Hebrew letters are used; therefore, the dagesh, vowel pointing, cantillation marks, and ending forms of letters are ignored. Thus the result is the same whether you search for אַהֲרֹן or אהרן. By default, the cantillation marks are not searched, and if the entry includes them, they are ignored.

Hint

You can search for any character using the period first. To find a cantillation mark on any word, enter a period before the cantillation mark. To find a phrase with specific marks, search for a period followed by the first cantillation mark, followed by a space, then a period followed by the second cantillation mark and a space, and so forth.

Accordance ignores the cantillation marks when attached to letter characters or to the usual wildcards. To find a cantillation mark attached to a word, use the @sign to connect the word and the period. For example: dvr@.cantillation mark.

When the equal sign (=) is added immediately before a word, Accordance searches for that exact lexical or inflected form. In Hebrew this includes the vowel points, dagesh, and ending forms.

For example, a search for the lexical form אהב (love) yields the following lexical forms: , אַהַב, and אהב. However, a search for אהב= finds only the verbs derived from this unpointed lemmaClosed The canonical (dictionary) form of a word.

Accordance distinguishes between שׁ (shin) and שׂ (sin) and the unpointed ש (shin). However, in the entry box, the unpointed ש (shift-c) searches Texts and Tools for both sin and shin and the unpointed shin.

Tag ConstraintsTag Constraints

A tag constraint can be used to further limit the search; by itself it is also a valid expression. For example, the search argument [ADJECTIVE masculine singular] is an expression that could stand alone or be part of larger search criteria.

A word from a tagged text can be modified by tag constraints. The word and its tag constraints are a single expression and can be part of your larger search criteria.

Example: [VERB qal perfect]@אהב is a single expression. The @ symbol is required to make multiple expressions apply to a single word.

WildcardsWildcards

When searching tagged texts, you can use wild-cards in either lexical or inflected forms. A search for *בוא* (come) finds all words derived from all lexical forms containing בוא such as תְּבוּאָה even though many of the words found do not include all the letters בוא. To use a wild-card to match inflected forms, enclose the argument containing the wild-card in quotation marks.

  • Wildcards are allowed with exact searches. In an exact search, the character wildcard (?) stands for any letter, dagesh, or vowel point.
    Example: A search for finds all words ending with patach-patach.
  • You can also search for a repeated character in a word. The question mark is followed by parentheses containing an equal sign and a numeral referring to the number of a prior question mark in the same word.
    Example: The entry a??(=1) would find “all” and “add”, but not “and”.
  • Using the repeated character wildcard you can also look for repeated consonants in a lemma. Repeated vowels in a word can also be found with an exact search.
    Example 1: The entry *(2=)??? finds all geminate lemmas (where the second and third consonants are identical).
    Example 2: The entry "?(2=)????=" finds all three-letter inflected forms where the vowels on the first and second consonants are identical (assuming there is no intervening dagesh).

Search for Variant Readings (ktiv or qere)Search for Variant Readings (ktiv or qere)

Variant readings in the text are indicated by square brackets around the qere which follows the ktiv, as in [תַלִּינוּּ [תִלּוֹנוּ in Exodus 16:7. A search for לון finds both words, that is, the word in the text and the variant reading.

  • Empty square brackets [] in the text, as in 2 Kings 5:18 יִסְלַח־נָא, indicate cases when the qere omits the preceding words.
    To search for all instances of [] in the text, type קק in the Search Entry box.
  • If the qere adds a word, as in Judges 20:13 [אָבוּ ( ) [בְּנֵיּ , the missing ktiv is indicated by empty parentheses (). To search for all instances of () in the text, type כך in the Search Entry box.

To summarize:

  • To find all empty ketiv, search for kk (כך).
  • To find all empty qere, search for qq (קק).
  • To find all words in the qere brackets, search for *, set the search for Words, from the "Search in every" pop-up menu choose Verse and Search Words Inside Brackets.

Searching In and Out of BracketsSearching In and Out of Brackets

Variant readings can be found in the Hebrew (HMT-W4) and certain other reconstructed Hebrew texts. You can choose to search for specific text in or out of the brackets, or to ignore such text.

  1. Set the search to Words.
  2. Enter the desired text, for example, לון in the Search Entry box.
  3. In the Search Entry area, click Search Conditions (). The Range item appears.
  4. Click Search Conditions () twice to open the Scope and Bracketed Words items.
    1. Select Verse, Chapter or Book from the Scope pop-up menu.
    2. From the Bracketed Words pop-up menu, choose one of the following:
      • Included: Choose this option to search all words in the text, including the qere.
      • Ignored: Choose this option to ignore all words in brackets.
      • Exclusive: Choose this option to search only for the qere variants (those words appearing in brackets).

        An example of the results is shown below.