Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>
To: "Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2004 6:30 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Labials and letter interchange


> Chris:
>
> The two words are from different roots:
>
> $LWM from the root $LM
>
> SLWH is from an irregular root that was either SLH (which is how the verb
is listed) or SLW.
>
> Karl W. Randolph.

Karl,

Of course you mean $LWH, $LH and $LW. And you may be right, but Chris may be
on to something. The sonants M and W are often interchanged, usually between
languages or dialects - such as the name of the god Shamash/Shawash, or the
month Warxa$manu ("eighthmonth") becoming Marxe$wan. In this case, the roots
$LM and $LW have similar meanings - could they both be derived from the same
"Proto-Semitic" (or whatever) source?

Yigal