The Biblical Hebrew wayyiqtol and the Evidence of the Amarna Letters from Canaan

Abstract

The Amarna letters from Canaan (ca. the middle of the fourteenth century B.C.E.) contain several passages which employ the yaqtul forms in the narrative. These passages attest to the existence of the short prefix conjugation in contemporaneous Canaanite dialects. This conclusion is based on the close similarity of their syntax to the Biblical Hebrew wayyiqtol.