Biblical Hebrew Forum

[David P Donnelly <davedonnelly1 AT juno.com>]

Read, James C K0434995 at kingston.ac.uk 
Mon Sep 26 19:39:31 EDT 2005 wrote:
>>>
However, try as I might 
I just cannot humanly pronounce this word 
with such syllabic separations 
without inserting a vocal schwa between the two syllables:
>>>

According to b-hebrew transcription guidlines,
the name you are analyzing is transcribed as "YaH:WeH"
I believe that the shewa between the two syllables is a silent shewa,
[a syllable divider], 
not a vocal shewa.

Page H. Kelly’s "Biblical Hebrew , An Introductory Grammar" says
on page 13:
>>>
The silent shewa, on the other hand, only stands beneath a consonant that
ends a syllable.
The silent shewa, therefore may also be referred to as a syllable
divider.
>>> 
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-7/264290/YaHWeHdissected.JPG
At the link above you will find an image of my dissection of "YaH:WeH".
Hopefully it is correct.
An icon which appears at the lower right of the image,
allows you to enlarge the image.

Dave Donnelly
>From editor AT sdbh.org  Wed Sep 28 02:19:31 2005
Return-Path: <editor AT sdbh.org>
X-Original-To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Delivered-To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Received: from mailrelay01.solcon.nl (maillb.solcon.nl [212.45.32.200])
        by lists.ibiblio.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9D26C4C00B
        for <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>; Wed, 28 Sep 2005 02:19:31 -0400 
(EDT)
Received: from [127.0.0.1] (dsl-213-134-244-203.solcon.nl [213.134.244.203])
        by mailrelay01.solcon.nl (8.12.11/SQL-8.12.11-5/8.12.11) with ESMTP id
        j8S6JNsj001715
        for <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>; Wed, 28 Sep 2005 08:19:26 +0200
Message-ID: <433A35D6.7030603 AT sdbh.org>
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 08:19:02 +0200
From: Reinier de Blois <editor AT sdbh.org>
User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0 (Windows/20041206)
X-Accept-Language: en-us, en
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
References: <20050927203502.87FCC164278 AT ws1-4.us4.outblaze.com>
In-Reply-To: <20050927203502.87FCC164278 AT ws1-4.us4.outblaze.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV version 0.86.2,
        clamav-milter version 0.86 on mailrelay01
X-Virus-Status: Clean
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Broad heart
X-BeenThere: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.6
Precedence: list
List-Id: Hebrew Bible List <b-hebrew.lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew>,
        <mailto:b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/b-hebrew>
List-Post: <mailto:b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Help: <mailto:sympa AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=HELP>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew>,
        <mailto:b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 06:19:31 -0000

Dear Karl,

Karl Randolph wrote:

>You are the person to correct me if I am wrong, but 
>it is my impression that an over reliance on semantic 
>domains can lead to incorrect definitions. Is it not 
>possible for a lexeme to be used only six times in 
>Tanakh, each in a separate semantic domain, with 
>the result that it can given six unique definitions, one 
>for each semantic domain?
>  
>
In theory, maybe. I haven't run into such a case yet. The less data the 
more speculative a case becomes

>The statement in 1 Kings 5:9 that a broad heart 
>indicates that there was a lot of room to fill with 
>wisdom sounds very English (as in language) leaving 
>me to wonder if it fits the Hebrew use at all. Seeing as it 
>is used in an idiom, shouldn't we look for idiomatic uses 
>to help understand the meaning?
>  
>
Yes, the study of idioms can be very helpful. What is more helpful in 
this case, however, is the triplet "wisdom, intelligence, and a broad 
heart".
If (a) and (b) are synonymic if it would be very unlikely for (c) to be 
any different. Then, if RXB often signifies "spacious" it is a very 
small step to extend that in a more figurative sense to a heart that can 
contain much knowledge.

>For example, it used to be said that a coward "had a 
>yellow streak up his back". The more cowardly, the 
>broader the streak, so that a very cowardly person 
>had "a broad yellow streak..." Like the example above 
>with 1 Kings and Solomon, "broad" did not refer to 
>having more room to fill, rather the broader the 
>stronger the effect.
>  
>
You are basing your conclusion on an English idiom. Very speculative.

>Now we come to "spacious of heart", an idiomatic 
>phrase. You are right that the heart was where people 
>considered to be the source of thinking. Therefore an 
>expansive heart is an overpowering intellect. This is not 
>the scintillating intellect of an Einstein or other brainy 
>savant, rather the mind that is firmly rooted in its own 
>verities such that it is not easily swayed by others, 
>instead sways others. It can be acquired by common 
>people (Psalm 119:32).
>  
>
If the root were )MN I would possibly agree with you, but not with RXB.

>Finally, I question the universality of semantic domains. 
>As far as I can tell, the ancient Hebrews had only one 
>semantic domain that contained wisdom, obedience 
>to God and worship, they were not separate as in 
>Western thinking. The wise man was the one who 
>worshipped God in the way he lived his daily life. But 
>then there were different kinds of foolishness: the 
>foolishness of the unlearned was not the same as the 
>foolishness of the rebellious, and they were designated 
>by different terms in Hebrew. So where we have one 
>semantic domain for foolishness, the Hebrews had 
>two. How many other examples can we find?
>
Semantic domains are NOT universal but differ from one language to 
another. It is very possible for Hebrew to have two lexical semantic 
domains for foolishness. I haven't spend much time on "foolish" yet but 
I am aware of the distinction you mentioned above and may come to a 
conclusion similar to yours. The semantic domains used in SDBH are based 
on a careful study of Hebrew word use and are quite different, for 
example, from those used by Louw and Nida for Greek.

Best wishes,

Reinier de Blois

United Bible Societies
editor, Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew