Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: 4 Misc. Questions

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: peter_kirk AT sil.org
  • To: <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: 4 Misc. Questions
  • Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 18:39:27 -0400


Dear Brian,

No-one seems to have given you the type of answer I think you were
looking for to your first question:

1. I am looking for some bibliography on the 3 letter reconstructions
being artifical in BH roots. If the first two radicals are the same
and the third is different but are connected words isn't the 3 letter
root concept forced?

I guess you are referring to cases in which several BH roots with
similar meaning share one or two consonants. The same happens in other
Semitic languages. There seems to be two separate processes. For
example GKC 30g notes the set of roots KRR, KRH, KWR and )KR, and the
set DKK, DWK, DK) and DKH, which seem to be derived from the biliteral
roots KR and DK expanded in different ways into triliterals. However,
the set of roots in GKC 30h all seem to have the idea of cutting: QCC,
QCH, QCB, QCP, QC(, QCR; Q+B, Q+L, Q+P; KSH, KSS, NKS (Syriac); GZZ,
GZH, GZM, GZ(, GZL, GZR; GDD, GD(, GDH, GDP, GDR; XDD, XDL, XDQ, XDR,
XD$; XWS, XWC, XZH, XZZ, X+B, X++, X+P, XSL, XSS, XSP, XCB, XCH, XCC,
XCR; these look like an original biliteral root with (mostly) a suffix
(B,P,(,R,L,M,Q,$ are attested here). See GKC for some further
explanation, but this is of course dated. There is some discussion (at
a common Semitic level) in "Comparative Semitic Linguistics" by
Patrick R. Bennitt (Eisenbrauns 1998) pp.62-64 but this does not go
beyond pointing out the issue and its potential links with common
Afro-Asiatic and even with Indo-European. Can anyone take this
further?

Peter Kirk





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page