Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>]

On 02/10/2006 06:28, K Randolph wrote:
> ...
> Both examples you give above are the result of two different roots
> that have converged in sound so as to sound the same, another example
> being to/too/two. In Norwegian, for  example, the two roots for "bear"
> are still recognizable as "bære" and "bjørn" (older English "beorn"),
> whereas German recognizes the difference between "liegen" and "lügen".
> I expect that modern English has more examples like this than most
> languages, seeing as it is a mish mash of languages. Similarly English
> has many terms that have diverged from a single root into different
> languages, then brought back into one language as separate terms.
>
>   
Precisely. And Hebrew has a good number of such examples, some of which 
can be proved from cognate languages (a means of proof which you seem 
happy to apply to Germanic languages) while others are more speculative.

...
> When I look at a dictionary like BDB and find multiple meanings, I
> look for the action that is behind all its definitions, then in my
> dictionary list that action. Of course I look more at a concordance
> than a dictionary, because that gives me a list of its occurrences so
> I can see how the term is actually used, not relying on the
> interpretation of the lexicographer.
>
>   
But do you look at the evidence from cognate languages, which often 
proves that there are multiple roots behind this?

> Take, for example, the word KRH, all its uses fit within the semantic
> domain of providing for as in preparing, setting up, giving
> provisions. Some of the times that providing is by digging, once in
> giving provisions to troops so that they would have the energy to
> return home (in ancient times, armies were expected to live off the
> land, hence were seldom provided with rations like a modern army. This
> story is the case where the captured army was given provisions, then
> sent home.), a couple times the provision was through purchase.
>
>   
In this case, I can't be sure whether there was originally one root, but 
by the time of the separation of Hebrew and Arabic there was already a 
semantic split, for the root KRY in Arabic can apparently mean both 
"dig" and "let for hire". And if the division is this ancient it is 
probably best to treat these as separate words. Compare English "skirt" 
and "shirt", which are different words with different meanings although 
they derive from the same proto-Germanic.

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