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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Lexical question

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  • From: Vadim Cherny <him AT vadimcherny.org>
  • To: Ishinan <ishinan AT comcast.net>
  • Cc: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Lexical question
  • Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2009 22:04:20 +0300

The thing is, Hebrew lacks homonyms. What you see as homonyms are actually related meanings. As Karl saw for himself, finding the common meaning requires some study but it is always there. This is a function of root cells. I take Steinberg's dictionary for a fine example of such search.

Vadim Cherny


Ishinan: My suggestion is to apply the comparative method among other daughter Semitic languages (such as Akkadian, Ugaritic, Arabic, Ge?ez, etc.) to your examples. Consult the respective Proto-Semitic etymologies. You'll actually discover that the examples you gave above are homonyms.
I have found that sometimes the entries in Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible can be misleading.
For example:

7783 shuwq overflow, water. 7784 shuwq shook street. 7785 showq shoke the (lower) leg/shin.

These are not related. Hope this helps.

Best regards,

Ishinan B. Ishibashi












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