Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>]

Will Wagers wrote:
> >At 09:30 PM 8/24/99 -0400, you wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >Someone earlier mentioned a book that detailed etymological origins of
> > >Biblical Hebrew terms. Could they look this up for us and explain what 
> > >the
> > >book says about SHEM ?  SHEMAYIM? etc. ?
> >
> >Etymological studies are interesting enough- but they really do not help
> >much in understanding either usage or meaning in context.
> 
> I disagree. History is the context of all.

This is a nice cliche, and you're certainly free to disagree with Jim's 
statement.  However, in the context of language, words mean what 
they mean because a society chooses to use them that way.  How 
they got where they are is sometimes an interesting study, but it 
frequently tells us virtually nothing about what the word meant at 
the time in question.

Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
"Oh, no!  They've all become giant Swiss lederhosen-clad
dancing yodelers!"  "Talk about unpredictable!" - P&B