# נאש



## Isidore Demsky

נאש

Would this verb form (which only seems to be used in Job 6:26) be masculine or feminine, and would it be present tense or past tense?


----------



## origumi

See Gesenius about Strong's H2976 (יאש).


----------



## Isidore Demsky

origumi said:


> See Gesenius about Strong's H2976 (יאש).



That doesn't tell me whether the form used in Job 6:26 is masculine or feminine, or past or present (complete or incomplete.)

Also there's a difference between saying that there's no hope for a man who died of cancer (because he's already dead, and there's nothing more that medical science can do for him), and saying that the wife of a man fighting cancer has no hope he'll recover.

So is this verb form (נאש, which only seems to be used in Job 6:26) masculine or feminine, and would it be present tense or past tense?

And does it mean one for whom there is no hope (like the man who died of cancer), one who feels no hope (like the wife of the man fighting cancer), or one who is desperate (like a man fighting cancer)?


----------



## origumi

You can see in Gesenius that this is a nif`al form, participle ("present"), neutral (by this term he means, I guess, stative/descriptive: "desperate" rather than "becoming desperate"). You can also see in Gesenius that the form appears several times, the other appearances contain a full ḥolam (letter "ו" waw for the long "o" sound).

I cannot see how this can be feminine, every root conjugation table in a grammar book would tell it's masculine (search for nif`al, present, singular, the root group whose first letter changes between y / w / o, known in Hebrew as נחי פי"ו). But in Job it's used in a way that the gender is irrelevant, notice for example that the preceding word is in plural while נֹאָשׁ is singular.

The meaning of אִמְרֵי נֹאָשׁ in Job according to the traditional viewpoint is "things that have no hope/chance to happen" (רש"י,מצודת ציון) or "things of little importance" (מלבי"ם).


----------



## Drink

The literal meaning of "אִמְרֵי נֹאָשׁ" without interpretation is "the words of a desperate person". Essentially, נואש is used as a noun meaning "a desperate person". נואש is the masculine singular, which is the default form used for an unspecified person (or thing).


----------



## origumi

Drink said:


> The literal meaning of "אִמְרֵי נֹאָשׁ" without interpretation is "the words of a desperate person". Essentially, נואש is used as a noun meaning "a desperate person". נואש is the masculine singular, which is the default form used for an unspecified person (or thing).


I suspect it's "desperate situation" here, like מצב נואש, דבר נואש. Compare to וַתֹּאמְרִי נוֹאָשׁ־לוֹא, כִּי-אָהַבְתִּי זָרִים וְאַחֲרֵיהֶם אֵלֵךְ (Jeremiah 2:25).


----------



## Drink

origumi said:


> I suspect it's "desperate situation" here, like מצב נואש, דבר נואש. Compare to וַתֹּאמְרִי נוֹאָשׁ־לוֹא, כִּי-אָהַבְתִּי זָרִים וְאַחֲרֵיהֶם אֵלֵךְ (Jeremiah 2:25).



You're probably right. Would a desperate person have been "יוֹאֵשׁ"? I can't find any uses of it.


----------



## origumi

נואש (nif`al) is good for both a person and a situation.
יואש (pa`al) doesn't exist, I believe, because being desperate is regarded as passive or reflexive, not active.
In modern Hebrew נואש (for a person) is often substituted by the somewhat weaker מיואש (pu`al).


----------



## Drink

origumi said:


> יואש (pa`al) doesn't exist, I believe, because being desperate is regarded as passive or reflexive, not active.



Oh right, I misread the definition. But pa`al, especially in Biblical Hebrew, also contains stative verbs like קָטֹן (to be small), כָּבֵד (to be heavy), etc. And יָאַשׁ could have been similar to that. But I can't argue with the fact that it does not exist.


----------



## origumi

Let me add to (or correct) what I wrote before:

1. Wiktionary lists the form יוֹאֵשׁ (and the other pa`al conjugations), so I guess it does exist although rare.
2. I saw the interpretation that Job's אמרי נאש means the "the words of a desperate man", where the man is Job himself.


----------

