Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peter.r.kirk AT ntlworld.com>]

On 10/07/2003 10:30, Stephen C. Carlson wrote:

> Actually, there is a method for distinguishing between cognates and 
> loanwords, and it involves looking at the reconstructed proto-Semitic etymon 
> and seeing if the reflexes of the word are consistent or inconsistent with 
> the set of sound changes for each language.  Since this has not been done in 
> this thread, it is premature to assert that the term in question is a 
> loanword.
>
> Stephen
>
>  
Stephen, you have a point. The full technical arguments for this being a 
loan word have not been presented in this thread. But they have been 
studied by many competent scholars for at least 100 years (as quoted in 
BDB), and it certainly seems to be the scholarly consensus, as repeated 
in Kohler and Baumgartner, that this particular word is a loan word into 
Hebrew from Akkadian. In a case like this, if you wish to challenge the 
accepted results, it is not enough to say "not proven", serious 
arguments are required.

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