Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

On 1/12/07, Isaac Fried wrote:
> Let us take the root נפל (NPL). In Genesis 6:4 we read about the נפלים
> (NeFILIM), which the KJV translates as 'giants', namely of elevated stature.

The KJV translation or the LXX from where it apparently takes this
interpretation
do not necessarily define the word.  They may be identifying the "fallen ones"
with the "giants" later described in the Bible.  None of this changes
the fact that
the meaning of the root NPL is "to fall", and not generally identified
with elevated
stature.  While it is definitely possible that some letters in words, which 
may
originate in suffixes and prefixes have some meaning as far as the word is
concerned, and in some cases this may even translate into a new root being
form (for example: possibly *dal "door" + t "feminine marker" = *dalt "door"),
if there ever was a wider meaning to these elements we cannot normally
retrace it back because of the many developments in the language before
Semitic became "Hebrew" and before Semitic itself.

As you have previously labelled me a dilettante, may I ask as to your
credentials in the field of linguistics?

Yitzhak Sapir