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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] elephants or ivory ?

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  • From: Yaakov Stein <yaakov_s AT rad.com>
  • To: "b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] elephants or ivory ?
  • Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2008 09:13:05 +0300

> Rather, I would suggest that the verse be broken up as so:
> zhb wksp [w]$n / hbym wqpym wtkyym
> In other words, the verse originally spoke of both ivory and
> elephants, and it was only later when the word hb as
> "elephant" was so antiquated that it remained only in the
> frozen term $nhb that it was reinterpreted in this verse with
> this meaning.

Yitzhak

Thank you for your ingenious explanation.

You could go a further step and say that the word $NHB itself
originated from this verse after the merging of the words.

On the other hand, the word $N-HB could simply refer to
the animal with big teeth, with any of the possibilities
for explaining HB.

BTW, do you know where the modern word PYL comes from ?

Yaakov (J) Stein






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