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  • From: "Brady R. Johnson" <brady AT seanet.com>
  • To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: aleph-mem
  • Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 12:30:42 -0800


Greetings all,

I am a long time lurker on the list, not a scholar, but an interested
amateur. In discussion with some others I have run across an interesting
question: It began inauspiciously enough and appeared easy to answer, but
I ran into some difficulties that I figured many if not most of you could
probably answer easily.

Original question: what is the root of "eemah" (mother)? Is it aleph-mem?
Or aleph-mem-he? I'm guessing aleph-mem. I'm also guessing that's the
older form and that the addition of the "he" reflects an effort at
"feminizing" the noun as Hebrew developed into its own. Am I barking at
the moon at this, or does it make any sense?

Part 2 of original question: Is "amah" (identical spelling to "eemah" -
aleph-mem-he) derived from the same root? Anyone know anything about how
the words developed?

The word "ooma" (nation,people) is spelled the same as "eemah" and "amah"
and I assume it also derives from the same root? The meanings are
conceptually similar it seems - "mother", "maid" and "nation". However,
"amah" also means "cubit", a word that I cannot fit into the theme of
woman/motherhood. I am guessing that the similarity in spelling and
pronounciation is coincidental and that "cubit" is actually a borrowed word
from elsewhere?

Thanks in advance for you help!

Brady Johnson



  • aleph-mem, Brady R. Johnson, 02/21/1999

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