Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Trevor Peterson <06PETERSON AT cua.edu>]

>===== Original Message From "Lisbeth S. Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu> =====
>IT strikes me there are different dialects, then.
>Nasa' et ha ro'$ doesn't mean count heads in
>2 Kings 25:27. Why does the same phrase have
>two completely different interpretations?

Can't one dialect allow for words or phrases to have different meanings? I 
happen to be listening to the Aerosmith song "Walk This Way" on the radio 
right now, which should work as well as any other example. Isn't it possible 
to use that clause to mean "walk in this manner" (i.e., imitate the way I'm 
moving my body) or "walk in this direction?" It's one of those things about 
language that creates the opportunity for double meanings. "Go fly a kite" 
can 
literally mean to do just that, or it can mean you don't want anything to do 
with what someone is saying or doing. As language users, we just have to 
accept these different possibilities. I'm not trying to brush aside your 
struggle or to suggest that you should give up finding an answer. But I don't 
think it has to be a difference of dialects.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics