Raw Grammar Reference Data¶

Search 1: "masculine suffix feminine noun gender discord" (Hebrew)¶

Result [1] — Futato, Beginning Biblical Hebrew, p.30¶

Section on gender of nouns
Basic forms of masculine and feminine nouns

Result [2] — Barrick & Busenitz (Brown-Driver-Briggs Grammar), p.68¶

Cities/countries are usually feminine (Jerusalem, earth/land)
Body organs in pairs are feminine (ear, hand)

Result [4] — Waltke-O'Connor, Intro to Biblical Hebrew Syntax, p.126¶

Non-animate feminine nouns may designate a collective (e.g., golah "exile")
The feminine formative is used to form numbers used with masculine nouns

Result [6] — GKC (Gesenius-Kautzsch-Cowley), p.205¶

Changes in noun forms occasioned by plural, dual, feminine terminations, and pronominal suffixes
Section 80: The Indication of Gender in Nouns

Result [7] — GKC, p.356¶

Classes of ideas regarded as feminine in Hebrew
Occasional transference to masculine persons despite feminine form
Camp (machaneh) is feminine only as collective; body parts listed

Search 2: "pronoun antecedent gender agreement" (Hebrew)¶

Result [1] — GKC, p.418 (§145) — CRITICAL¶

§ 145. Agreement between the Members of a Sentence, especially between Subject and Predicate, in respect of Gender and Number. - "As in other languages, so also in Hebrew, the predicate in general conforms to the subject in gender and number (even when it is a pronoun)" - "There are, however, numerous exceptions to this fundamental rule." - "These are due partly to the constructio ad sensum (where attention is paid to the meaning rather than to the form)"

Result [2] — Waltke-O'Connor, p.128¶

"-at came to have the ultimate specialization of the feminine with animate objects"
"Other features, such as form, tradition, and associations with other words, contributed to the assignment of a noun's gender"

Result [3] — Waltke-O'Connor, p.126¶

"grammatical gender does not 'attribute' sex to inanimate objects and only imperfectly designates it in animate objects"
"it is chiefly a syntactic feature"

Result [4] — Waltke-O'Connor, p.345¶

Section on personal pronouns (16.1-16.3)

Result [9] — Waltke-O'Connor, p.137-139 (§6.6 Concord) — CRITICAL¶

6.6 Concord: - "Grammatical gender involves three distinct systems: morphology, meaning with reference to an extra-linguistic reality, and syntax" - "In Hebrew the basic morphology opposes Ø-marked masculine to the feminine in -at, though there are many Ø-marked nouns with female reference"

6.6d — CRITICAL: "Finally we may mention cases in which there is no true antecedent for a pronoun—what, so to speak, is the gender of a situation or an action? Such a dummy or impersonal pronoun..." - This directly supports the possibility that mehem in Dan 8:9 does not have a strict grammatical antecedent but refers to the broader scene/situation.

Search 3: "constructio ad sensum" (Hebrew)¶

Result [1] — GKC, p.418 (§145) — Same as Search 2, Result [1]¶

Constructio ad sensum = "construction according to sense/meaning"
Hebrew allows the predicate to match the MEANING rather than the GRAMMATICAL FORM of the subject
This principle directly applies to Dan 8:9: the masculine suffix mehem may agree with the masculine SENSE (kings, powers, directions) rather than the feminine FORM (horns, winds)

Search 4: "gender agreement pronoun antecedent" (GKC-specific)¶

Result [1] — GKC, p.418 (§145)¶

Full text excerpt: "As in other languages, so also in Hebrew, the predicate in general conforms to the subject in gender and number (even when it is a pronoun, e.g. זֹאת בְּרִיתִי this is my covenant, Gn 17:10). There are, however, numerous exceptions to this fundamental rule. These are due partly to the constructio ad sensum (where attention is paid to the meaning rather than to the form)"

Result [2] — GKC, p.423¶

"The predicate following is put in the plural... after subjects of different genders it is in the masculine (as the prior gender)"
KEY PRINCIPLE: When gender conflict exists, Hebrew defaults to masculine

Result [4] — GKC, p.388¶

"A similar dislike of the feminine form may also be observed in the case of verbal predicates referring to feminine subjects, cf. § 145 p and t"
"When an attribute qualifies several substantives of different genders, it agrees with the masculine, as being the prior gender"

Search 5: "masculine pronoun feminine noun exception" (Hebrew)¶

Result [4] — GKC, p.356¶

Classes of ideas regarded as feminine in Hebrew
Despite feminine classification, occasional transference to masculine persons occurs

Result [5] — Waltke-O'Connor, p.128¶

No "natural" gender for inanimates and non-animates
Gender assignment partly traditional, not strictly semantic

Result [9] — GKC, p.418 (§145)¶

Constructio ad sensum: attention to meaning over form
Numerous exceptions to gender agreement documented

Summary of Grammar Textbook Evidence for Dan 8:8-9¶

GKC §145 (p.418): Gender agreement is the norm BUT numerous exceptions exist, primarily through constructio ad sensum (meaning over form).
GKC §145 (p.423): When gender conflict exists, Hebrew defaults to MASCULINE as the "prior gender."
GKC (p.388): Dislike of feminine verbal forms is documented; masculine forms sometimes used for feminine subjects.
Waltke-O'Connor §6.6d (p.139): Cases exist where there is "no true antecedent for a pronoun" — dummy/impersonal pronouns that refer to a situation rather than a specific noun.
Waltke-O'Connor (p.126): Grammatical gender "does not 'attribute' sex to inanimate objects" — it is "chiefly a syntactic feature."

Application to Dan 8:9: The masculine plural suffix mehem does NOT grammatically require either the feminine horns (chazut) or feminine winds (ruchot) as its antecedent. The gender discord is permitted by Hebrew grammar through constructio ad sensum (GKC §145), gender default to masculine (GKC p.423), and the possibility of dummy pronouns without strict antecedents (WO §6.6d). The claim that "grammar requires the little horn to come from the four Greek horns" overstates what Hebrew grammar actually constrains.