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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Lev 21:18 - Passive Participle

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  • From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Lev 21:18 - Passive Participle
  • Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 18:34:17 -0500

Dear Peter,

... This root was recognized when BDB was put together; it mentions an Arabic cognate meaning to "perforate, pierce, slit the partition between the nostrils, or the lip, or the lobe of the ear." The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew also recognizes the root, as do translations (NET, HCSB).


It is worth pointing out, even though no doubt Karl will be sceptical in view of his comments on ayin and ghayin, that there is good evidence for these being separate roots in that they have Arabic cognates with different spellings. The Arabic cognate of the word meaning "devote, destroy" is Õ- starting with the Arabic letter hah (as in "haram" meaning "unclean"), whereas the Arabic cognate of the word meaning "perforate, pierce" etc is ‘- starting with the Arabic letter khah, note the extra dot which indicates a velar or uvular fricative rather than a pharyngeal fricative. It is a regular rule that both of these Arabic letters correspond to Hebrew het, and indeed they were probably pronounced differently in Hebrew at the time when the Bible was written, in the same way as ayin and ghayin were probably pronounced differently.

HH: That's a very interesting argument. Thanks for the observation and for the help with pronunciation. I don't know Arabic, though I have studied the alphabet and a few things in grammar.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard





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