Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>]

On 11/01/2007 18:11, K Randolph wrote:
> ...
> In our numerically driven world, that observation can either be
> verified or falsified by doing a statistical study, but no one has
> done it. So at the moment it remains an observation, neither proven
> nor falsified.
>
>   
I agree that this would be a useful test. But it would be a useful test 
only if it is agreed beforehand to accept well known lexicographers' 
opinions as to whether words are semantically similar or distinct. While 
certainly some of these opinions are debatable, it is unlikely that they 
have been deliberately chosen to support or counter the hypothesis being 
tested, whereas the personal opinions of any of us involved in this 
debate may be framed with the hypothesis in mind. I would propose 
following the opinions of the compilers of the Westminster Hebrew 
morphological database, which is widely available in computer Bible 
packages.

We should also bear in mind the fact, at least as recognised by many 
linguists, that two originally different letters have come together in 
Hebrew het and similarly in Hebrew ayin. As a result we might expect an 
extra large number of homonyms in words containing het or ayin. It will 
be interesting to see how far the statistics actually bear this out.

Given the morphological database, it would actually be rather trivial to 
discover the proportions of homonyms for each letter, among three letter 
verbal roots attested in the Hebrew Bible. I may even do this!

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