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  • From: "Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Human Sacrifice
  • Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 12:38:08 -0500

Jack:

Does a word in a semantic domain merely soak up its
meaning from the context, like a crouton in a salad, or
does it add something to the mix like a spice? If words are
spices to their contexts, what flavor does each spice add?

This question has greater poignancy in the meaning of
XRM. First, most of its uses are outside of the narrow
context of the sacrifice itself, rather, where it is used in
connection with sacrifice, it is for designating the animal to
be sacrificed, not the sacrifice itself. Secondly, it is used to
refer to objects that are not sacrificed. It is also used in
semantic domains not related to sacrifice, such as the
example I referenced where the semantic domain was
physical deformity, and another the semantic domain is
punishment. So what is the spice, the specific flavor that
XRM adds to each of these recipes? To me, it appears
not in relationship to destruction, but to marking out, i.e.
designating, or in recognizing that which is marked, as
in deformed.

I just realized as I write this response, another place
where I differ from BDB and other lexicographers: first
I mentioned that I look for action, not form, when looking
at how words are used. An example of that is where I
disagreed with Reinier de Blois as to the meaning of RXB
LBB: I ended up agreeing that his definition of "filling the
mind" is most likely correct (my original understanding
wrong), but he looked at the object, *what* filled the mind,
thus his claim that it has different meanings, while I look at
the action, the *filling* of the mind, and see the same
action despite different contexts. But now, in connection
with the presupposition that each word usually has one
basic meaning, I realize that as a lexicographer, I look for
the unique flavor that a spice adds to all the recipes to
which it is added and not the flavors it soaks up from
around it, i.e. what slant does each word add to the
contexts wherein it is found, not the meanings it receives
from its semantic domains. I tend to concentrate on the
different flavors, not the recipes. As a diner, I'm trying to
reverse engineer the cook's spice rack by sampling the
restaurant's total menu, so I try to reverse engineer a
lexeme's meaning by all its contexts, recognizing if
possible what it adds to each context.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but based on the above, it
appears to me that semantic domains are based on form
over function. If so, it explains my intuitive discomfort with
the concept, as I have already rejected form over function
to champion function over form.

Karl W. Randolph.

----- Original Message -----
From: tladatsi AT charter.net
>
> Karl,
>
> If you asking about the semantic domain of XRM, it must
> understood within the context of how sacrifice occurs. The
> offering is dismembered and burnt. The offering is killed
> (MWT), mutilated, and nothing is left. The core concept of
> this domain is destruction. The borders of this domain
> include destruction for sacrifice and destruction for
> military reasons (as occurs frequently in Joshua, Judges,
> and 1st Samuel) or destruction for other reasons (Isa
> 11:15).
>
> However, if you interested in the concept of human
> sacrifice outside of the lexical domain of XRM, you can
> look at 2 Sam 21. This is clearest example of human
> sacrifice I can think of. Briefly, Yahweh brings a
> terrible famine upon Israel for three years. When David
> asks Yahweh why and Yahweh replies that it is on account of
> Saul?s (who is dead by this time) attempted genocide of the
> Gibeonites. David turns over seven male descendents (sons
> and grandsons) to the Gibeonites who kill (MWT) them. God
> finds this action satisfactory and ends the famine (hmlk
> vy?tr ?lhym l?rts ?xry kn - Elohim answering the prayers of
> the kng for the land after that)
>
>
> Jack Tladatsi

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