Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - [b-hebrew] semantic domains

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Dr. Joel M. Hoffman" <joel AT exc.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] semantic domains
  • Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 15:48:05 -0400 (EDT)

>Finally, I question the universality of semantic domains.

Is there really anyone who thinks semantic domains are universal as
they are expressed in language?

I gave a paper about this some years ago in Leuven. One example
from the paper is the word "blue."

In (American) English, to "be blue" is to be sad. If anything, a
"blue letter" is a sad letter.

In Modern Hebrew (and, apparently, in some dialects of English), a
"blue head" is a "dirty mind," along the lines of a "blue movie,"
which is a porno film.

In German, to "make blue" is to skip school, and a "blue letter" is
the letter a parent receives about a child who skips school.

To translate the German "blau" ("blue"), then, into the English
"blue," is a terribly misleading mistake.

Similarly, to translate the ancient Hebrew LEV ("heart") into the
English "heart" is a terribly misleading mistake. ("Mind" is a better
but still bad translation.)

-Joel Hoffman
http://www.exc.com/JoelHoffman




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page