Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Medina, Vincent" <VMedina AT cbcag.edu>]

Wes:

 

To attempt to derive the meaning of brk “to bless” from other roots with the same spelling is to commit the infamous “root fallacy” (the mistaken assumption that the meaning of words is derived from their roots). The other roots you mention which mean “spring” or “knee” are merely homonyms, i.e. words which are spelled and sound alike but have distinct meanings. These occur in every language. In English the word “bank” and refer to the land at the edge of a body of water or a financial institution. It would be a mistake to believe that one of these meanings is derived from the other. There are numerous other examples in your Hebrew lexicon of different roots with the same spelling. They should also be treated as distinct lexemes. Hope this helps.

 

Vince

 

Solo Deo Gloria