[Avodah] Hebrew grammar - anticipatory noun

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Michael Makovi wrote:
> I'm not sure, but I suspect that perhaps it is a Hebrew
> idiom to name a noun anticipatorily for its verb. For
> example, ... the person who is going to fall is called
> the faller. Perhaps similarly, we call a gentile who is
> going to convert, the convert who converts?

I don't recall ever hearing the term "anticipatory noun" before, but I like it. It's a good description of what's going on.

But, in my opinion, it is NOT an exclusively Hebrew idiom. We find the exact same thing in English. For example, we recently had a discussion of how the Torah can refer to a criminal who has been convicted of a capital crime as a "dead" man. That conversation totally befuddled me, for we say the same thing in English. For several examples, see the Wikipedia article "Dead Man Walking" at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_man_walking#Name

How curious it is that this same issue of Avodah Digest contained the phrases "ger shenisgayer" and "tinok shenolad", which (it seems to me) are more examples of the same idiom.

We (in the NYC area) are currently in the middle of a snowstorm, and on the radio this morning, the traffic report described a particularly dangerous intersection as "an accident waiting to happen". Quite the same idea, I think, as the anticipatory noun: Things are described in terms of what we expect them to become, even if that destiny has not yet been reached.

It is not uncommon for Yiddish-speaking parents to affectionately call their kids "mammeleh" ("mommy") and "tatteleh" ("daddy"), which they certainly are not yet, but which we pray they will become someday.

The only question which remains, it seem to me, is whether this idiom exists in other languages as well. Any polyglots on list?

Akiva Miller

PS: I'm not even sure if the word "idiom" is accurate in this context, given the abundant examples. Perhaps "usage" is better?
_____________________________________________________________
SFO from $39! Fly Virgin America
Fly from San Francisco to your other favorite city. Fares from $39!
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2121/fc/JKFkuJi7KAn0cL6k7KcPoACZ7iVMHkySfdjOVRfHwWxzMhfDgtcPpw/