Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Peter Kirk" <peterkirk AT ozemail.com.au>]

David, you ask a good question. Basically I already tried,
independently, to answer it. I see BRK as a case of polysemy, divergent
senses of the same word, rather than homonymy, words of different origin
which happen to coincide in form. But maybe you have further
perspectives from your lexicographical work in Hebrew and in other
languages. Does it actually make a practical difference whether we have
polysemy or homonymy? And is there a way to tell which is happening?
This is not a case where native speaker intuition would help, even if it
were available, as intuitions on etymology are decidedly unreliable.

Peter Kirk
peter.r.kirk AT ntlworld.com
http://web.onetel.net.uk/~peterkirk/
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-hebrew-
> bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of David Gray
> Sent: 23 January 2003 20:14
> To: B-Hebrew
> Subject: FW: [b-hebrew] The Meaning of brkh
> 
> Dear Peter,
> 
> Can you define homonym? If it is same form, very separate meaning,
then it
> is only a supposed common etymological root which ties the two
together.
> It
> would be hard to argue polysemy in this case. Interesting (very) as it
is
> for linguists  a dictionary would have them as separate head words, I
> imagine.
> 
> David Gray
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of Peter Kirk
> Sent: 22 January 2003 03:42
> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] The Meaning of brkh
> 
> 
> Vince, I think you are both right and wrong here. Right that these
words
> should be treated as distinct lexical items with distinct meanings.
But
> wrong in assuming that these are simply homonyms with no etymological
> connection. There is good reason to understand (along with BDB) the
> sense BRK "bless" as a secondary sense of BRK "kneel"; also B.:R"KFH
> "pool, pond" as derived from BRK "bless", in a cultural context in
which
> a pool or pond of water is a very real blessing and evidence of God's
> bounty. If there is evidence that these come from really separate
roots,
> I have not seen it. The "root fallacy" comes in when exegetes misuse
> these links to tell us something about the "real" or "original"
meanings
> of the words.
> 
> Peter Kirk
> peter.r.kirk AT ntlworld.com
> http://web.onetel.net.uk/~peterkirk/
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Medina,
Vincent
> Sent: 22 January 2003 06:56
> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [b-hebrew] The Meaning of brkh
> 
> 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
> 
> 
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