Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Isaac,

I have actually heard people speak of "zug sefatayim". And here's another 
one for you - when Israeli archaeologists speak of the "lip" of a pot 
(called the rim in English), one is a "safah", many are "sefayot".

Yigal Levin
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Isaac Fried" <if AT math.bu.edu>
To: "Shoshanna Walker" <rosewalk AT concentric.net>
Cc: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2007 8:53 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Zech 1:19,21


> Shoshana,
>
> The plural of 'horn' is invariably KARNAYIM. A genetically engineered
> cow may have 3 KARNAYIM upon its head. If you go into to a store and
> ask for 7 KARNAYIM you will get 7 singles. If they come in pairs you
> will have to ask for 7 ZUGOT KARNAYIM and you will get a total of 17
> (no I am kidding), 14, KARNAYIM. Say we look at a herd consisting of
> three normal cows (I keep the number low so as not to encumber the
> arithmetic beyond ten fingers) and you ask me how many KARNAYIM do I
> see, my answer is 6. If alone I would just count the cows and
> multiply by two, but with you I am afraid of a "trick question" and
> so I actually count horns, lest a cow misses one. In fact, people
> often use ZUG, 'pair', even for just two: YESH LO ZUG YADAYIM XAZAQOT
> VeZUG RAGLAYIM BRYIOT. I have never heard, though, ZUG used for
> SFATAYIM, 'lips'. The plural of SAFAH, 'language' is SAFOT, but the
> plural of SAFAH, 'rim', is SFATOT.
>
> Isaac Fried, Boston University
>
>
> On Apr 15, 2007, at 11:43 AM, Shoshanna Walker wrote:
>
> > Ok, thank you - but does this mean that if someone is referring to
> > the horns of several animals, 10, let's say = 20 horns, they would
> > use the word kranot, or would it still be karnayim?  Sorry, I just
> > want to understand.
> >
> > Shoshanna
> >
> >
> >
> > Shoshana,
> >
> > You are right but not entirely. The dual of KEREN, horn, is KARNAIM,
> > as nature willed it for the head of most animals. Yet, indeed, the
> > plural of KEREN in the sense of 'ray of light' is KARNAIM, the same
> > way that the 4 legs of a table are 4 RAGLAIM. You my have seen a
> > statue of an Indian goddess with 6 YADAIM, and some modern art
> > depicting a face with 3 EYNAIM. The plural of KEREN in the sense of
> > 'principal' is KRANOT, (KARNOT in construct state), and so is the
> > plural of KEREN in the sense of 'corner'.
> >
> > Isaac Fried, Boston University
> >
> > On Apr 14, 2007, at 9:42 PM, Shoshanna Walker wrote:
> >
> > > I thought that Karnaim is plural for horns, and Kranot plural for
> > > rays of light
> > [cut]
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