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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Offend/dealt corruptly - chet bet lamed (nehemiah 1:7)

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Karl Randolph <kwrandolph AT email.com>
  • Cc: Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Offend/dealt corruptly - chet bet lamed (nehemiah 1:7)
  • Date: Sat, 26 Jun 2004 04:41:20 -0700

On 25/06/2004 16:28, Karl Randolph wrote:

...
“Bear” in English comes from at least two, if not three, roots. ...


But how do you know this? Perhaps just from the meaning - but not necessarily, the animal "bear" could have been so called because it carries (bears) heavy loads or can survive (bear) cold winters. And I suspect that this is the kind of explanation you would look for if you found a similar case in Hebrew. But in fact we know that the animal "bear" comes from a different root because it has different cognates in other Indo-European languages e.g. German "bär" vs. "(ge)bier-t", Swedish "björn" vs. "bär-a" etc.

So similarly with a Hebrew root like XBL. We might be able to squeeze the attested meanings into being based on a single root. But evidence from related languages like Arabic suggests that there are in fact two separate roots. While we can't be sure perhaps, we need to take that evidence seriously.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/





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