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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Offend/dealt corruptly - chet bet lamed (nehemiah1:7)

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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 (nehemiah1:7)
  • Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2004 04:20:20 -0700

On 27/06/2004 20:32, Karl Randolph wrote:

Peter:

With “bear” I looked at its uses and found widely divergent meanings
depending on contexts. Looking at cognate languages verified that I was
dealing with different roots. (I could have looked at the history of English
language and arrived at the same conclusion, but the above is assuming the
situation with Hebrew, where we don’t have the history.)


Maybe. But all that this proves is that "bear", which was not my choice of example, is not the best example I could have chosen. There are certainly better examples in English, of homonyms and apparent derivatives which could easily be slightly divergent senses from the same root, but are can in fact be proved to be from quite different roots. Just one random example but again not an ideal one: "potluck". Here in the UK I guess almost anyone would suggest a derivation from "luck", and perhaps "pot" in the sense that you put a ladle into a pot and take your chance as to what comes out. But in fact the word is known to be a loan from a Native American language.

However, with XBL &#1495;&#1489;&#1500; within Biblical Hebrew, I have not
found widely divergent meanings. Therefore, I see no need to go to cognate languages to
look for different roots. That Arabic, for example, has two roots becomes irrevelant if
all uses in Biblical Hebrew can be seen as expressions of one root.


My example of "potluck" shows that the lack of apparent need to look for different roots does not imply that the different roots do not exist.


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





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