Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - [b-hebrew] lexicography?

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>
  • To: "Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] lexicography?
  • Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 20:40:26 -0500

Dear Reinier de Blois:

I have been looking at http://www.ubs-translations.org/sdbh/ and wonder if
your method has a weakness. Will you be able to recognize the forest for the
trees? By parsing the definitions so finely, do you not risk losing sight of
factors that hold a definition together?

In the use of your method, will you be able to recognize figures of speech?
Literary devices such as irony, satire? Euphemisms? It is my impression that
the methodology rules out the recognition of such.

It is my impression that your methodology may lead you to a misunderstanding
of verses, or in making lexemes basically meaningless by ascribing too many
definitions to them. Would not insisting on looking for a central meaning
that ties all the definitions together be an equally valid lexicographic
methodology?

What follow are a couple of examples of how I have defined lexemes found in
your dictionary: (listed according to verbal root, used only as a device, not
because I think a verb is the root of each noun)

XWD to ask a didactic question (hence a derivative noun) XYDH didactic
question, a riddle that has an implied message or statement that one has to
think about in order to get the message, e.g. Judges 14, Sampson killed the
lion with his bare hands, therefore his message was, “Don’t mess with me!”
The Philistines got it, imperfectly, as their subsequent actions showed.

XBL to tie in knots (hence) to be bound up, to be bound to (either literally
with ropes, or figuratively through moral suasion or contractual obligation),
to knot, to bind (take as) collateral, to make twisted as a knot, to contract
(knot up) muscles (hence derivative nouns) XBL rope (for tying), sailor (one
who works the ropes), band or group (bound together for an action), region
(tied to a locality), muscle contraction (knotting up of the muscles),
collateral (tying property to a loan), XBLH pledge, TXBLWT binding and
guiding principles (synonyms in alphabetical order) )SR to tie to, to yoke,
XBR to join (together) (hence) XBR XBR to join a secret society, gang (often
as a form of idolatry), XB$ to bind on (hence) to saddle (a donkey, horse),
N(L to latch, (B+ to give collateral (hence) to become indebted, (ND to clasp
on an all metal necklace, (QD to tie up, wrapping the rope around and around,
PTL to entangle, CRR to straighten, a term meaning to tie up tightly, to close
in as an enemy, to close in on others in battle and as troubles overwhelm
someone, Q$R to bind, often used in an indirect sense meaning to join oneself
with another in conspiracy, obligation or for what ever other reason, RQS to
knot on

On the first above, I noticed that XYDH is usually used in a context where
there is learning, e.g. Proverbs 1:6 yet it is something that is usually
asked, leading me to the conclusion that it is dealing with a didactic
question. If so, then the verb would be to ask a didactic question. Then I
decided to look at Judges 14, the best known example of its use. I asked
myself, “Is there a lesson here for the Philistines?” Seeing as Samson had
killed the lion with his bare hands, I took the meaning as “Don’t mess with
me.” Well, in chapter 15, when Samson was wronged by his father-in-law and
took revenge, the Philistines went after the members of their own master race
first who had wronged Samson. In looking at history, that seems pretty
unusual for a master community to punish one of their own before going after
one of their perceived inferiors. Then they sent a whole army, at least a
brigade, hoping that that would be enough. Samson killed a thousand of them.
Yes, the Philistines
got the message.

In the second example, I looked for a meaning that fit most, if not all, the
examples that I found. I am willing to say that I don’t understand the
meaning of a verse and come back to it, than give a definition to a lexeme
that is unique to that situation. This is an example of why I asked the
question I opened with, namely if lexemes have widely different definitions,
could we be misunderstanding verses? For example, I read Nehemiah 1:7 as “We
are surely bound to you, but we did not keep the commands and the precepts
and the judgments which you commanded Moses your slave.”

It is also an example of how I compared it with synonyms to try to get a
better handle on how broad its meaning might be.

Any thoughts?

Yours, Karl W. Randolph.
--
___________________________________________________________
Sign-up for Ads Free at Mail.com
http://promo.mail.com/adsfreejump.htm




  • [b-hebrew] lexicography?, Karl Randolph, 12/29/2003

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page