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Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum
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- 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
-
[b-hebrew] semantic domains,
Dr. Joel M. Hoffman, 09/28/2005
- Re: [b-hebrew] semantic domains, Stoney Breyer, 09/28/2005
- <Possible follow-up(s)>
- [b-hebrew] semantic domains, Read, James C, 09/30/2005
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