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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] PT and PQ

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  • From: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
  • To: Bill <wrschmidt2 AT comcast.net>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] PT and PQ
  • Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2012 10:44:41 -0400


The Online Etymology Dictionary says:

open(n)
early 13c., "an aperture or opening," from open(adj.). Meaning "public knowledge" (especially in out in the open) is from 1942, but cf. M.E. in open (late 14c.) "manifestly, publicly." The sense of "an open competition" is from 1926, originally in a golf context.

open(v)
O.E. openian "to open, open up, disclose, reveal," also intransitive, "become manifest, be open to or exposed to," from source of open (adj.), but etymology suggests the adjective is older. Open up "cease to be secretive" is from 1921. Related: Opened;opening.

open(adj)
O.E. open "not closed down, raised up" (of gates, eyelids, etc.), also "exposed, evident, well-known, public," often in a bad sense, "notorious, shameless;" from P.Gmc. *upana, lit. "put or set up" (cf. O.N. opinn, Swed. öppen, Dan. aaben, O.Fris. epen, O.H.G. offan "open"), from PIE *upo "up from under, over" (cf. L. sub, Gk. hypo; see sub). Related to up, and throughout Germanic the word has the appearance of a pp. of *up (v.), but no such verb has been found. The source of words for "open" in many I.E. languages seems to be an opposite of the word for "closed, shut" (e.g. Goth. uslukan).

Of physical spaces, "unobstructed, unencumbered," c.1200; of rooms with unclosed entrances, c.1300; of wounds, late 14c. Transferred sense of "frank, candid" is attested from early 14c. Of shops, etc., "available for business," it dates from 1824. Open-handed "liberal, generous" is from c.1600. Open door in reference to international trading policies is attested from 1856. Open season is first recorded 1896, of game; and figuratively 1914 of persons. Open book in the figurative sense of "person easy to understand" is from 1853. Open house "hospitality for all visitors" is first recorded 1824. Open-and- shut "simple, straightforward" first recorded 1841 in New Orleans. Open marriage, one in which the partners sleep with whomever they please, is from 1972. Open road (1817, Amer.Eng.) originally meant a public one; romanticized sense of "traveling as an expression of personal freedom" first recorded 1856, in Whitman.

1. In short, 'open = op-en' is 'lift up'.

2. Is PRX also an extended form of Pe, kind of as a flower opening (like a mouth) its petals, or a bird spreading (like the lips of the mouth) its wings? And what about PAAMON, bell, that looks exactly like an open mouth, even with a tongue loosely hanging inside it?

Isaac Fried


On Apr 29, 2012, at 8:24 AM, Bill wrote:

Isaac Fried then wrote:

In Gen. 3:7 PAQAX is used to the parting of
the eyelids to expose the pupil (indeed, in the
extended sense of understanding what one
sees), while in 1Ki 8:29 the verb PATAX is used
for it. In Dt. 15:8 PATAX is used for the parting of the fingers of the hand.

In addition, I can't understand why anyone would
choose to interpret PAQAX in Genesis 3:7
circuitously as "parting of the eyelids to expose
the pupil" when the verb can be and, thus, has
been ubiquitously interpreted as an obvious
reference to opening the eyes. The former
interpretation thus obfuscates the fact that
parting and separating are nothing but forms of
opening, Hence the phrase "spreading the legs" is
tantamount to the phrase "opening the legs up".





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