Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 28/06/2004 06:15, George F. Somsel wrote:

> On Mon, 28 Jun 2004 07:41:24 -0500 "Eduard C Hanganu"
> <eddhanganu AT hotmail.com> writes:
>  
>
> > ...
> >
> > My question is purely morphological,  and please, allow me to repeat 
> > it: 
> > does the lexicon of the Hebrew language include COMPOUND words? And 
> > if the 
> > answer is affirmative, what is the Grammar that discusses this 
> > matter?
> >    

There are a very few, for example B:LIY.A(AL "worthlessness" which 
appears to be a compound of B:LIY "without" and YA(AL "benefit". 
Gesenius (GKC 81d) discusses this point, but very briefly. In fact the 
only other example which GKC recognises, apart from proper names, is 
C:PAR:D."(A "frogs".

> ...
>
> Not to make any comment on the presence or lack thereof of compound words
> in Hebrew, I don't think this can be considered as a compound since if
> this were considered to be one concept rather than 2 the period
> envisioned would then be 6 years rather than 3.
>  

The argument here is rather backwards: from historical events, to an 
interpretation of a specific passage, to the meaning of a word, to the 
structure of the Hebrew lexicon. Since we have already demonstrated that 
2300 evenings *or* mornings doesn't fit the history exactly anyway, 
there is no reason to write off the hypothesis that (EREB B.OQER is a 
compound word meaning a period of rather over six years. Whether that 
means we look for another period that this passage applies to, or 
consider Daniel a false prophet, is irrelevant to the lexical and 
syntactic issue.

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