[b-hebrew] Etymology of "Galilee"

Isaac Fried if at math.bu.edu
Thu May 1 00:56:00 EDT 2008


Jim,

You are right that GL, 'mound, swell, encompass', and GR, 'aggregate'  
are used both for elevated land, but we do not need the Egyptians to  
remind us of this. In Genesis 31:47 Jacob refers to the pile of  
stones they erected as GAL and Laban calls it YGAR.
Now GAR, in its variant HAR, is used for a full fledged mountain,  
while GAL is but a small mound or a wave.
A GAR in its variant KAR is left us in the name Mount KARMEL, by  
people who liked quadrilitteral roots.
GR in its variant QR is found in QIR, 'wall'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Apr 30, 2008, at 10:34 AM, JimStinehart at aol.com wrote:

>
> Pere Porta is right that GLL in part means “rolling”.  But GLL is  
> never
> applied to the rolling hill country of southern Canaan.  No, GLL is  
> almost always
> found in a northern greater Canaan context.  Same with GL.
>
> Isaac Fried has given us many nice GL words.  Now let’s see what we  
> can do
> with those GL words.
>
> 1.  From the 1st millennium BCE to the present, the Sea of Galilee in
> northern Canaan has been surrounded by three vast tracts of land,  
> all three of whose
> names begin with GLL or GL:  Galilee/GLL to the west, Golan/the Golan
> Height/GL to the northeast, and Gilead/GL to the southeast.   
> Northern greater Canaan
> is GLL/GL country.
>
> 2.  Before the southern Hebrews came into being, in the mid-14th  
> century BCE,
> this was GRR/GR country.  That’s GRR/Gerar at Genesis 20: 1, and GR/ 
> Gar/Garu
> in the Amarna Letters.  GRR is but an earlier version of GLL.
[cut]
> Jim Stinehart
> Evanston, Illinois
>
>
>
>
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