Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>]

On 28/09/2006 23:11, Moshe Shulman wrote:
> ...
> Harold, words mean something. KRU cannot be distorted to mean 
> pierced, when it means to dig (a hole). A truck is not a wheelbarrow 
> even though both have four wheels.
>
>   
Can you give evidence from biblical Hebrew of:

1) The sizes of hole,
2) The kinds of material in which the hole is made,
3) The kinds of instrument used for making the hole

which could NOT be referred to with this verb? After all, that is the 
only way that you can prove what it does NOT mean.

In modern English (at least in my understanding) "dig" can be used of 
any size of hole in any material, but the instrument used must be 
something more like a spade than a spear, stake or drill. But that 
semantic distinction is valid only in the one language. Maybe modern 
Hebrew has similar its own precise semantic distinctions for this word. 
But the distinctions in biblical Hebrew may be quite significantly 
different from those in modern Hebrew, as can be demonstrated with many 
words which have subtly changed their meanings.

By the way, I have never seen a four wheeled wheelbarrow!

--
Peter Kirk
E-mail:  peter AT qaya.org
Blog:    http://speakertruth.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.qaya.org/