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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Interpretation of Biblical Hebrew, or Harold, is this your methodology?

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Interpretation of Biblical Hebrew, or Harold, is this your methodology?
  • Date: Sat, 10 Jul 2004 08:54:08 +0100

On 09/07/2004 23:27, Harold R. Holmyard III wrote:

...

Concerning Proverbs 1:19, )RX has as its root meaning the concept of travelling long distances from place to place. Path or way, at least in American English, has the concept of being only local. What word would you use to carry road and long distance travel?


HH: You disagree with the lexicons again. The verb )RX in BDB means to wander, journey, go. In DCH it is journey or go, with the participle meaning wanderer, traveller. Yet both lexicons state that the noun )RX means way or path. Perhaps they felt that the noun had a specific sense according to its contexts. BDB says that only in Judges 5:6 does the word have the sense of highways. So your limitation seems unnecessary. I am used to the word having the meaning path.


Karl may well have a good point here. We are used to travelling long distances on wide highways (or by air!) and so a narrow path suggests something local. But in ancient times even the most important highways may well have looked more like paths to us. So while "path" may be the most accurate translation from a purely denotational perspective, it may also have misleading connotations of short distance and short duration travel. And so "road" might be a better translation, at least in more metaphorical contexts where what is in focus is not the width and surface of the path/road but the length of the journey.

In the UK we have long distance paths or footpaths, for those who want to walk in the countryside, and so paths are not necessarily local. What would you call such things in the USA? Trails? That might work in some contexts.

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





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