A Reassessment of the Hebrew Negative Interrogative Particle hlʾ

Abstract

The trend in recent scholarship on the Hebrew negative interrogative particle hlʾ has been to suggest two distinct, underlying etymologies. In addition to the traditional etymology of interrogative {h} + negative particle lōʾ, some scholars propose an asseverative particle *hallū, now lost in the Masoretic leveling of all forms to halōʾ. The following study reassesses this proposal, suggesting that the evidence for the new etymology is untenable.