Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yitzhak Sapir <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

On 11/20/05, Dr. Joel M. Hoffman wrote:
> > Also, Modern Hebrew "express" means "no or few stops on the way",
> >not "local."  If you go to http://www.egged.co.il/ and look up bus
> >#394, for example, you'll see that it is listed as an "express" type
> >bus even though it departs from Tel Aviv Central Bus Station to
> >Eilat.
>
> You're confused.  You're thinking of MAHIR or YASHIR.  The EXPRESS
> busses make lots of stops.  (Just look at how many stops #394 makes
> along the way!)

There are two issues here: 1) marketing -- Egged definitely wants to
convey the idea that the line is direct or quick even if it is not.  2) 15 to
20 stops on a 5 hour bus ride is only a few!   My definition to you was
not based on any assumptions.  Rather, before defining it for you, I made
a quick check by dictionary and by poll of (Israeli) coworkers as to the
meaning of this term in Hebrew.  Now I looked up Even Shushan which
also defines it as "traveling direct to the final destination -- without
making intermediate stops."  I'm not sure why you think it definitely
means something else, but quite obviously, a bus line from Tel Aviv
to Eilat is not "local" as you define the term to be.

> This is exaclty the sort of confusion that results from assuming that
> cognates (or borrowed words) mean the same thing in two different
> languages.

I don't assume nor suppose that cognates or borrowed words will
necessarily mean the same thing in two different languages.  I do think,
however, that cognates are more likely to mean the same thing and that
the semantics between cognates will be closer than in borrowed words.
It's just a gut feeling, however, and it may very well be wrong.  It is
important to differentiate between cognates and borrowed words.  It is
also important to realize that cognates, even when they don't mean
the same thing, still convey important information about the language
and its development.  Similarly, cognates can help us ascertain more
accurately the meaning in an ancient language such as ancient
Hebrew, than by comparing it to Modern Hebrew or modern languages
or translations made much later.  At the very least, they provide one
more important clue to the meaning than we would have had otherwise.

Yitzhak Sapir