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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: "George F. Somsel" <gfsomsel AT juno.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Re: Compound Words in Hebrew
  • Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2004 06:29:40 -0700

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/





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