Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Peter, Jim & B-Hebrew friends:

A compound lexeme is where two or more lexemes 
are used together to make up a distinct third meaning 
different from the lexemes that make up the compound 
lexeme. To give an example from Chinese, a wagon is 
made up of one word. A "fire wagon" is a train. A "air 
wagon" is a gasoline driven car. An "alone wagon" is a 
bicycle. An "electric alone wagon" a motorcycle. And 
so forth.

I mentioned in Chinese, the lexemes that make up a 
compound lexeme remain morphologically distinct, 
even while they work together to make up a third 
meaning. In English, they sometimes are combined, 
sometimes remain distinct.

German, on the other hand, the lexemes that make up 
a compound lexeme morphologically join together, or 
where verbs are sometimes split apart, it is done so 
according to grammatical rules.

The question is, which pattern did ancient Hebrew 
follow?

It looks as if Yitzhak may have the answer: ancient 
Hebrew had very few compound lexemes, and they 
followed the German pattern of being 
morphologically combined.

As for "filling the hand", that appears to refer to 
first during the consecration week for Aaron and 
his sons, twice they had their hands filled with 
objects to be sacrificed (Leviticus 8-9) and many 
of the sacrifices called for a handful of flour or 
grain to be added to the offering.

Karl W. Randolph.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Kirk" <peterkirk AT qaya.org>

> 
> On 24/08/2005 20:38, Jim West wrote:
>
> > ...
> >
> > Isn't there a difference between a phrase and a compound lexeme? 
> > You have cited a phrase which is rendered in English as "ordain"
> > but in Hebrew it simply means "fill the hands".  Are you
> > suggesting that if a word in English is the manifestation of a
> > phrase in Hebrew that it is a compound lexeme?
> >
> >
> >
> I am suggesting that a compound lexeme is a made up of two or more words
> which are (usually) lexemes in their own right but where the meaning of
> the whole is something different from the sum of the meanings of the
> parts. That is certainly true of MILLE' YAD, as of Karl's English
> examples "strike out" and "strike up". Of course Karl's definition may
> be a little different from mine, so let's see what he says.
>
> Well, he didn't question my definition, but asked:
>
> > Correct me if I am wrong, but did not Moses put something into
> > their hands during the consecration ceremony, hence "filling
> > their hands"? Thus "filling their hands" was a referral back to
> > that action?
> >
> >
> >
> I don't think there is any record of any physical item being put into
> the hands of the priests. Metaphorically, I suppose some kind of
> authority was put into their hands. But I would accept that there is a
> fine line between compound lexemes and metaphor. "Strike out" can
> similarly be understood in terms of metaphor, and "strike up" doesn't
> even need a metaphor when you realise that it is an extended sense of
> striking drums and/or strings.
>
> George wrote:
>
> > Lev 19.17 WaY.aQ:R"B )eT_HaM.iN:XfH WaY:MaL.") CaP.oW MiM.eN.fH
> > As you can see, the priest received part of the offering.
> >
> >
> >
> You have the wrong reference here. I think you mean 9:17, and KaP.oW
> rather than CaP.oW. Note that 1) this is not part of the ordination
> ceremony, but the start of Aaron's regular ministry 2) the word used is
> KAP not YAD 3) the priest is filling his own palm whereas ordination was
> done by someone else, Moses in the case of Aaron 4) ordination is not
> just a matter of filling someone's hand with grain, but has a very
> specific significance which goes far beyond this.
>
> Yitzhak wrote:
>
> > My understanding is that compound lexemes are rare due to the nature
> > of Hebrew, but isn't the most obvious one (that comes to my mind at least)
> > "bly(l" of "bl(y)" and "y(l"? ...
> >
>
>
> He is working here from a very different definition of "compound lexeme"
> from Karl and myself. He is referring to single words each made up from
> two or more root morphemes. Karl and I seem to be referring more to
> single concepts represented by two or more words.
>
> --
> Peter Kirk
> peter AT qaya.org (personal)
> peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
> http://www.qaya.org/

-- 
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