Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Shoshanna Walker <rosewalk AT concentric.net>]

I think I said something like:  "The law is davka to enable us to approach 
the holiness...."

Meaning that the law is ESPECIALLY (my definition), or PRECISELY (Yigal's 
definition) for that purpose....

Shoshanna




  Thanks, Yigal, I stand corrected.

  When Shoshana mentioned that a davka was something that connects us to the 
sacred, or something very similar to that (sorry, I don't have her message 
before me, so if I misstated what she said, it was not intentional) it 
appeared to me that "davka" is an anglicization of a yiddishization of a 
Hebrew word meaning to join, adhere or stick to, much the same way "gonef" 
and "tsuris" came from Hebrew.

  Now I have a question, what does being precise have to do with connecting 
us with the sacred?

  Karl W. Randolph.

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: "Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>

  > Karl,
  > 
  > "Davka" is spelled Dalet-Vav-Qoph-Aleph -  DWQ), not with a Bet. Anyway, 
the
  > word in Gen. 2:24, Davaq (DBQ), means "to adhere" or "to stick". How is 
this
  > like the meaning of Davka?
  > 
  > Davqa seems to come from the root "DYQ", which does not exist in the 
Tanakh
  > (a Dayeq in the Tanakh is a siege-wall), but which in rabbinic Hebrew and
  > Aramaic means "to be precise".
  > 
  > Yigal