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Posting for another friend.

When does Lashon Hakodesh (throughout Tanach) use "ויחלם" (and he dreamed") by itself and when is "ויחלם חלום" ("and he dreamed a dream") used?
It seems that most of the time in Tanach, the double usage is found, and if so, why? (This is essentially part of the above question.)

Some examples of the first case:
- Bereishis 28:12
- Bereishis 41:5

Some examples of the second case:
- Bereishis 40:5
- Devarim 13:2
- Shoftim 7:13
- Daniel 2:1

רבות מחשבות
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    Perhaps in the second you know that you are dreaming. – Clint Eastwood Dec 29 '17 at 13:08
  • Nope. Wouldn't explain Paroh (Bereishis 41:5), who knew he was dreaming. – רבות מחשבות Dec 29 '17 at 13:28
  • Very astute question. I'm trying to see if there's some patter, here - so far, I don't see it. But, have a look at Midrash cited in Rash"i on Breishit 40:5. Before I even viewed Rash"i, I sensed that the phrase Chalom Shneihem was meant as a single phrase which carries a different meaning. Point is, according to Midrash, this may not be a good example of a pattern. Or, maybe the others have something similar going on? I haven't viewed all of them yet. Just mentioning something to consider, here. – DanF Dec 29 '17 at 14:33
  • More examples of ויחלם: Yeshaya 29:8 (really just יחלם). More of ויחלם חלום: Bereishis 37:5, 37:9. Feel free to edit them in if you want. – DonielF Dec 29 '17 at 18:32
  • @DonielF Thanks for the examples. There are more than those as well, (I have searched Tanach by computer), so the ones I gave above are just examples. You can add still others, like Bereishis 42:9. I don't feel there is much to be added by putting in more examples, but if you want to edit this in, I'll certainly accept it. – רבות מחשבות Dec 29 '17 at 19:06
  • @רבותמחשבות I just used Sefaria’s search engine, which isn’t the most accurate for some reason when searching Tanach. – DonielF Dec 29 '17 at 19:25
  • In contemporary Hebrew לחלום is used for daydreaming and לחלום חלום for night dreaming with dreams. In Torah the use of double words is too general, like מות יומת, עלו נעלה שמח תשמח and many more. I think there's a Rashi on one מות יומת explaining the double use but it does not hold for every other appearance. – Al Berko Dec 30 '17 at 22:48
  • @AlBerko Good point. The contemporary Hebrew Chiluk does not work for the Bible, unfortunately. Perhaps there is a general rule for doubling words that could be applied? – רבות מחשבות Dec 30 '17 at 23:59
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    @AlBerko I don't think we can answer that it is for emphasis in all of these cases. – רבות מחשבות Dec 30 '17 at 23:59
  • @AlBerko "and לחלום חלום for night dreaming with dreams". While that may have a distinction in contemporary Hebrew, I think there's something similar in Tanac"h as well. Spec. I think the double usage implies that this is a dream that has specific meaning or significance of future events. The singular use may not, unless the Torah mentions two dreams, as in the case of Yosef and Paraoh. It's my hunch, for now. I'd have to look at all the other cases to see some pattern. – DanF Dec 31 '17 at 00:24
  • @DanF This does not hold for other doubles I mentioned. – Al Berko Dec 31 '17 at 14:45
  • @AlBerko So far, with the exception of Pharaoh, it looks like most of the other places that have a double usage have dreams that are interpreted. Are you seeing this pattern? – DanF Jan 01 '18 at 23:21
  • Why does Pharaoh know he's dreaming in 41:5 (ad the first two comments)? I read the end of 41:7 as Pharaoh awaking and only then realising it was a dream. –  Mar 08 '18 at 05:26
  • @Keelan he had already awoken, and gone back to sleep, at which point the verse states that he dreamed again. (Perhaps והנה חלום does not mean that he only then realized that it was a dream, and this is in fact a debate among the commentaries there. Some of them note that it can simply mean that the dream had completed.) – רבות מחשבות Mar 08 '18 at 05:32
  • @Keelan although, there could definitely be a strong argument made in favor of that, now that I'm looking through the cases. Definitely worth investigating further. (Here's a useful link, btw: http://mg.alhatorah.org/Concordance/2492) – רבות מחשבות Mar 08 '18 at 05:40
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    Should it be noted that this question was subsequently asked and answered on another StackExchange site? – Alex Jun 05 '18 at 22:39

2 Answers2

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I have a feeling that the double expression is used in a similar way as the rhetorical device known as "epizeuxis" (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epizeuxis). Rashi alludes to this idea in his commentary on Genesis 22:11 in which he comments that the doubling of Avraham's name is a sign of affection. Perhaps one could argue that in each of the cases of the double language of יחלום חלום the dream being dreamt is particularly dear to the dreamer or important to the narrative; whereas when the single expression יחלום is used the dream is not central to the narrative or a as of yet of unknown meaning and therefore not particularly dear to the dreamer.

Adam Simon
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  • I'm no scholar and I don't mean to pick nits in your answer, but I don't think this is like epizeuxis in form or usage. It never comes in the form of exact repetition of a word, like "Avraham | Avraham", and in fact cannot because the two words in a "cognate accusative" pattern occupy different parts of speech. Furthermore, I think Rashi is saying in the Avraham example that God expressed chiba that way to Avraham, not that it was recorded that way to demonstrate chiba to the reader. Also, the dream doubling doesn't seem to appear more in oratory contexts than others. – WAF Jan 01 '19 at 11:40
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Seems to me that when it is doubled, the phrase is referring to the act of dreaming itself, regardless of the content. When it is singular, the content of the dream is described, therefore, it is dealing directly with the content of the dream, as opposed to the doubled instances. Shoftim: There are two topics. The fact that he dreamt, and the content of the dream, and that is why it says twice והנה. Daniel: He is referring only to the act of dreaming.

Aryeh Taub
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    Welcome to MiYodeya Aryeh and thanks for this first answer. Since MY is different from other sites you might be used to, see here for a guide which might help understand the site. Great to have you learn with us! – mbloch Jul 05 '18 at 03:02