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[b-hebrew] multiple meanings- words with differing vowel points

From: Schmuel <schmuel AT bigfoot.com>
To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
Subject: [b-hebrew] multiple meanings- words with differing vowel points
Date: Tue, 07 Aug 2001 16:05:33 -0400

Hello b-hebrew,

Here is a general question about Hebrew vocabulary..

In english if we take out vowels, we have an abundance of words with
multiple meanings. .

eg.... "bt" would be bat bit bet bot but betty and other words..

Hebrew has silent/quiet letters which reduces that greatly ..
(e.g yachid and yachad are different letter spellings).

In modern Hebrew how frequent is it to have the exact same word,
in terms of letters, with two different vowel point spellings giving two
different meanings ... ?

More importantly, how frequently do we have a similar situation
in Biblical Hebrew, in particular in the Masoretic Text ?

I realize there are a number of nuances to this question (e.g a
word with two 'similar' meanings, difficulties in knowing a words
meaning) ...

My main question would be vis a vis the Masoretic Text..

The questions involving earlier Hebrew, like the DSS, may
get a little more complex :-)

Thank you for any assistance on this...

As a newbie, and only basically youngster "Hebrew School",
I hope this question is ok and on topic....

Schmuel AT bigfoot.com
Messianic_Apologetic-subscribe AT yahoogroups.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Messianic_Apologetic

[b-hebrew] multiple meanings- words with differing vowel points, Schmuel, 08/07/2001