Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Jack:

First, the noun (WP does not mean "bird", unless we count bats and locusts as 
"birds". As a noun, it referred to any creature that flies, in that time 
probably 
including pterodactyls. A more accurate translation would be "flying 
creatures" or "flyers".

I don't see how Genesis' story of Esau counts as an example of punning. It is 
a simple story of a man who was covered with reddish hair, hence was given 
the 
nickname of "Red". Then when he sold his first born rights for a red bean 
stew (it was coincidence that it happened that way), people all the more 
called his 
nickname "Red". That his descendants were called after his nickname happens. 
If this story were originally written in English, no one would call it an 
example 
of punning, so why should Biblical Hebrew be different?

Karl W. Randolph.

----- Original Message -----
From: tladatsi AT charter.net
> 
> Hello,
> 
> Since we are in Semantics 101, we can say that a lexeme is
> the minimal semantic unit of a language.   So flee, fled,
> fleeing, and fleer are forms of the English lexeme flee (to
> get away from danger quickly), even though they are spelled
> and pronounced rather differently.   Although pronounced
> exactly the same and spelled very similarly, the noun flea
> (any of various small, wingless, bloodsucking insects of
> the order Siphonaptera) is an entirely different lexeme
> from the verb flee.   In contrast, the lexeme fly probably
> includes both the verb fly (flying, flown, flies, flew and
> even flied) as well as the noun fly (any of numerous two-
> winged insects of the order Diptera or a baseball hit high)
> since the noun is derived from the verb can both capture
> the same idea, i.e. flight (either doing it and something
> that does it).  A nearly identical relationship exists
> between the Hebrew word for *bird* and the verb *he flies*,
> they are spelled identically (un-pointed ?VK) and
> pronounced very similarly.
> 
> If I write *Fly!*, am I taking the imperative form of the
> verb or announcing the presence of the noun?  They are the
> same lexeme but there is, nonetheless, ambiguity.  If I say
> *I caught a fly*, in my hand there can be one of two nouns
> but only one possible lexeme.  Puns can either play on
> different senses of the same word (or lexeme) or different
> senses or sounds of a different word.
> 
> Genesis 25:19 ? 34, offers an interesting test.  Esau was
> born ?DM.   He traded his birthright for a bowl of ?DM.
> His nickname was ?DM.  His descendants lived in country
> called ?DM.  I will go way out on a limb and suggest that
> in each case, the same lexeme is being used. There are
> slight differences in pronunciation but the un-pointed text
> appears absolutely identical.  The author is clearly and
> intentionally creating and exploiting ambiguity (both
> visual and phonetic) both to create puns and make a
> political point.  All of this is done with the same lexeme.
> 
> 
> Jack Tladatsi

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