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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] QNH-BSM

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>
  • To: Yitzhak Sapir <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] QNH-BSM
  • Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 10:26:36 +0100

On 21/05/2006 23:19, Yitzhak Sapir wrote:

... The words KANH/qaneh fulfill the conditions
sufficiently that scholars probably conclude that they are probable
borrowings.
Perhaps KANNA is to be explained as borrowed from an Assyrian/Babylonian
plural. According to Fox, the "broken plural" for "fathers" was Bab. abbu,
Ass.
abba:u (from 'abum), for "brothers" axxu: from axum (a reflex of which
may exist
in Hebrew), for "trees" iccu: from icum. So, it is possible that by
comparison,
(Akk developed the word into qanu) the Akkadian plural for "reed" was qannu or
qanna'u. But the easiest thing is to just check. ...

I really think you are wasting your time looking for the doubled N in a Semitic language. The Greek form KANH was very probably the original form borrowed from Semitic, cf. also KANWN. The change from KANH to KANNA can be explained by processes internal to Greek.

... An example like
this would still
show that Cannabis is not to be derived from qneh bo&em. ...

In case there is any misunderstanding, I am agreeing with you here. In fact I think a Greek derivation from KANNA is more probable. But from this distance in time we can only speculate on the origin of the -BIS part of the word, except to note that the -S is clearly the Greek nominative ending and not a root letter: the genitive (with -OS ending) is KANNABIOS or KANNABEWS, suggesting a root KANNABI- or KANNABE-.

... answers.com
includes information from a variety of sources, including wikipedia. ...

Indeed, but the data which I quoted from answers.com was from the American Heritage Dictionary. I suspect you will find the same etymology in most good English dictionaries, as it has clearly been around at least since BDB.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/





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