Biblical Hebrew Forum

[furuli AT online.no]

Dear list-members?


It seems to me that it is difficult to abandon terms that have been 
cherished for a long time. When I argue in a scholarly context, I 
often get the question: "Can you give an example?" It is often easier 
to grasp ideas by looking at them from a practical point of view, how 
they work.  So allow me to ask a few questions regarding the term 
"lexical meaning," which often is used without being adequately 
defined, and often  being used in a wrong way, in my view.  In order 
to test my claim "that 'lexical meaning' cannot be expressed in 
writing or in speech, it must be known (except with very simple 
words),' I ask a few questions.

First I use the translational setting: Expressed in English, what is 
the "lexical meaning"  of the nouns NP$ and XSD and the verb $LM?

Then I use the setting of the one English language: What is the 
lexical meaning of the nouns "meaning" and "world" and the verb "to 
love"?

Can the "lexical meaning" in each case be expressed with one word, or 
must the "lexical meaning" be expressed with several different words 
in each case? Or can it be that the "lexical meaning" cannot be 
expressed by words at all, because it is tied to a concept in the 
minds of living people?

Those who use the term "lexical meaning" in connection with 
Hebrew-English lexicons should be able to give some answers to these 
questions.



Best regards

Rolf Furuli
University of Oslo