Biblical Hebrew Forum

["SCOTT, PETER" <peter.scott AT bell.ca>]

Mark Eddy wrote:

Interesting.  Let's look at one of my favorite English examples.

Strike can mean:
-to hit (strike the rock with your staff)
-to miss (in baseball)

[Isn't it the batter who is struck out of play for missing the ball?]

-to start something (strike up the band)

[Isn't it the drums and xylophones and whatever that are struck as the
band begins to play?]

-to stop something (go on strike)

[When struck isn't it the company which is hit with a work stoppage?
The last time I walked a picket line that's what happened.]

to name just a few.  Here we have one lexeme with at least two meanings,
plus
two more that are polar opposites of the first two.  What exactly is the

"core definition"?


[The four different meanings you use are not so different after all.]

Peter Scott