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b-hebrew - Re: Hosea 13:14 - please help

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  • From: Trevor Peterson <06PETERSON AT cua.edu>
  • To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Hosea 13:14 - please help
  • Date: Mon, 23 Dec 2002 14:22:57 -0500


>===== Original Message From Polycarp66 AT aol.com =====
>There are two homonyms (pointing aside): one meaning word, matter, etc.
>and the other meaning pestilence. You will find that D.eBeR which means
>"pestilence" is used much more frequently than once. See Ex 5.2, 9.15;
>Num 14.32; Dt 28.21; 2 Sam 24.13,15; 1 Kg 8. 37; Hos 13.14; Am 4.10.
>There are others--mostly parallels to certain passages.

Just to add a bit more, I would normally include the vocalization as part of
the word, and where these words are concerned, the homonymy (different words
sounding the same) applies to the plurals only. dever ("plague") is a
segolate
form, which comes from an original monosyllabic stem (dbVr, where V
represents
one of the original three vowels). Segolates can be identified pretty easily
in their lexical forms, because the accent is on the first syllable, and the
vowel pattern has shifted to dVber, to break up the consonant cluster. All
segolates take the same plural form: dvarim, with a qamets in the second
syllable and a mobile shva in the first. The same plural form results from
davar ("word"), when the first qamets reduces according to the rules. So when
the plural form appears, it could be either noun. In most cases, context will
probably be a reasonable guide.

As an interesting side note, there is a repeated phrase in the Ugaritic Ba'al
epic that has some noun spelled dbr of questionable vocalization: li-ni'miyi
artsi dbr--"to the pleasant land of dbr." The word could be cognate to Hebrew
dvir ("sanctuary"), dever ("plague"), or dover ("pasture"). Whatever it is,
it
refers euphemistically to the Netherworld, so any of these readings is
conceivable. Because Ugaritic generally indicates vowels only where they
follow an alef, we have nothing but context to help us.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics





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