Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>]

Dave:

We have gone over "strike" before, but it is illustrative 
of what needs to be watched for when assessing the 
meanings of lexemes.

1) Within a particular field, a lexeme may have a 
specialized usage that is not reflected in the general 
use of the term. For example, "uncertainty" in physics, 
as in Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, has a far 
different meaning than in a novel where "the hero looked 
about with uncertainty, had he done the right thing?" 
Similarly, "strike" within the context of baseball, has 
a specialized meaning not found outside of baseball. A 
similarly specialized usage is found in labor relations. 
These specialized usages may have historical connections 
to the original meaning that have been obscured over time.

2) We need to look out for compound lexemes, where one 
lexeme combined with another make for a different meaning. 
"Strike out" is one such compound lexeme, "strike up" 
another. Compound lexemes are properly separate words 
from the simple lexemes, such as "strike" alone. German 
has grammaticized such compound lexemes so they are easy 
to recognize, whereas languages such as English and 
Chinese have not, yet all three languages have compound 
lexemes. Even so, the compound lexemes must be recognized 
as compound lexemes in order to have a correct 
understanding of a text.

I have not noticed any compound lexemes in Biblical Hebrew. 
Has anyone else in this forum found any such?

One thing I have noticed is that Biblical Hebrew seems to 
have fewer specialized meanings for theological concepts 
than do modern European languages.

Karl W. Randolph.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>

...
> 
>   Consider the word "strike": it can mean to hit (strike the rock and
> water will come out), to miss (in baseball), to begin something (strike up a
> conversation), to stop something (go on strike), a positive event (strike a
> bargain), a negative event (strike that from the record), to name just a 
> few.
> ...
> 
> --
> Dave Washburn
> http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
> "Well, if I'd wanted a safe life, I guess I wouldn't have
> married a man who studies rocks." - Betty Armstrong (Fay Masterson)

-- 
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