Biblical Hebrew Forum

[peter_kirk AT sil.org]

Dear Brian,

No-one seems to have given you the type of answer I think you were 
looking for to your first question:

1. I am looking for some bibliography on the 3 letter reconstructions 
being artifical in BH roots. If the first two radicals are the same 
and the third is different but are connected words isn't the 3 letter 
root concept forced?

I guess you are referring to cases in which several BH roots with 
similar meaning share one or two consonants. The same happens in other 
Semitic languages. There seems to be two separate processes. For 
example GKC 30g notes the set of roots KRR, KRH, KWR and )KR, and the 
set DKK, DWK, DK) and DKH, which seem to be derived from the biliteral 
roots KR and DK expanded in different ways into triliterals. However, 
the set of roots in GKC 30h all seem to have the idea of cutting: QCC, 
QCH, QCB, QCP, QC(, QCR; Q+B, Q+L, Q+P; KSH, KSS, NKS (Syriac); GZZ, 
GZH, GZM, GZ(, GZL, GZR; GDD, GD(, GDH, GDP, GDR; XDD, XDL, XDQ, XDR, 
XD$; XWS, XWC, XZH, XZZ, X+B, X++, X+P, XSL, XSS, XSP, XCB, XCH, XCC, 
XCR; these look like an original biliteral root with (mostly) a suffix 
(B,P,(,R,L,M,Q,$ are attested here). See GKC for some further 
explanation, but this is of course dated. There is some discussion (at 
a common Semitic level) in "Comparative Semitic Linguistics" by 
Patrick R. Bennitt (Eisenbrauns 1998) pp.62-64 but this does not go 
beyond pointing out the issue and its potential links with common 
Afro-Asiatic and even with Indo-European. Can anyone take this 
further?

Peter Kirk