Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>]

On 06/01/2007 04:29, K Randolph wrote:
> Peter:
>
> You remember previously I mentioned where the root where the verb #YM
> to place is recognizably similar to $M that place, there. ...

If there were a regular pattern of such doublets, this one might be 
understood as fitting it. But there is no regular pattern, see below. 
Anyway, this cannot be an example of "several words sometimes written 
with a sin, sometimes with a shin, but otherwise having the same 
meaning", as these are different words.

> ... I have
> noticed other words like N$H/N#H to put out of mind, ...

BDB does not mention N&H (by the way, "&" is the proper transliteration 
for sin, and "#" for unpointed shin). Are you sure it exists? If so it 
is likely to be a variant of the well known N&) "lift". There is a 
variant reading with sin of WN#YTY in Jeremiah 23:39 which has been 
understood e.g. by ancient versions as a form of N&). Is this what you 
are talking about? But it seems as if the choice here is between WN$YTY 
"forget" (MT) and WN&YTY "lift" (as understood by ancient versions); no 
one is understanding WN&YTY as "forget".

> ... ($Q/(#Q to
> defraud, ...

(&Q is a hapax in Genesis 26:20 (Hithpael only; ($Q is Qal and Pual 
only), which just could mean "defraud", but in the context seems to have 
the same meaning as RYB "dispute". Or this could be a case of the verb 
being deliberately repointed to match the (perhaps) well known place 
name Esek. Anyway, this is an example of "several words sometimes 
written with a sin, sometimes with a shin, but otherwise having the same 
meaning" only if you count different stem forms from the same root as 
the same word, which is debatable.

> ... $QD/#QD to keep watch ...

&QD is also a hapax, in Lamentations 1:14. Many manuscripts read $QD, as 
does LXX. Either this is a copyist's error, or else an obscure 
expression has been corrected to familiar one multiple times. But there 
is no evidence that there was a recognised verb &QD with the meaning 
"keep watch"; those who read &QD give a different meaning.

> ... and other similar pairs. I have not
> made a formal study of the phenomenon, just happened to notice it as I
> was reading.
>
> I have heard one argument that these represent copyist errors, but
> they happen often enough, particularly in words like PR$/PR# to spread
> out, used of hands as in getting ready for a hug, as in a cloth, net,
> book, entrails of an animal for divination and so forth, dividing the
> same action to different roots depending on the object being acted on, ...
>   

PR& means "spread out". One of the meanings of PR$ is "explain". I 
accept that there could be a semantic link between "spread out" and 
"explain", but this link is conjectural.

It seems that your "several words sometimes written with a sin, 
sometimes with a shin, but otherwise having the same meaning" comes down 
to two or three possibilities in which the semantic link is purely 
conjectural. You really need to add such qualifications to your remarks.

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