Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] verb forms - Isaiah 56:6-7 was dying you shall die

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>
  • To: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] verb forms - Isaiah 56:6-7 was dying you shall die
  • Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:10:30 +0100

On 19/04/2007 13:21, Isaac Fried wrote:

Peter,

According to the opinion of the vast majority of biologists we were all, "Semites", "Aryans" etc., at one point (many many years ago) exactly as intelligent as an amoeba. By the universal law of continuity, one may argue, we were, at one time or another, at every stage in-between. ...


Actually, no. Genetics would suggest that changes are not continuous but in steps. Amoebae have no legs, we have two, does that mean that we evolved through having half a leg then one leg? No, it doesn't work like that, at least I don't think so. Similarly it is genetically likely that human intelligence developed in a series of distinct steps rather than continuously, although the details must be speculative.

...

I think you will agree with me that the phenomenon of Linguistics is curious: Here you have super-intelligent, high-powered, goodly-supported, vastly-educated, all-knowing, computer-toting, professors ponderously discussing a language originally developed by people who barely knew how to start a fire.

No, Isaac. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire humans and their ancestors have controlled fire for something of the order of a million years. No linguist would hope to reconstruct language further back than 10,000 or possibly 20,000 years.

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





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page