Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jason Hare" <jaihare AT gmail.com>]

Karl,

Have you never noticed the very unique way that Isaac sees the Hebrew
language? I think that only on rare occasion have I agreed with his
analyses, since he seems to come from a completely different angle
from most regarding his approach to second language acquisition and
the structure of Hebrew, as well as its presentation. I'm surprised
that you're only now noticing something that you disagree with.

The root (LM עלם does not mean "pile" in Israeli Hebrew. This is the
root (RM ערם. An (RMH עַרְמָה is a pile or heap of something.

The Israeli Hebrew N(LM נעלם means "hidden", as the present state of
having "disappeared", LHY(LM להיעלם.

You're correct in your understanding, IMHO.

Regards,
Jason

> Dear Isaac:
>
> I don't know where you get your etymology for the meaning of (LM עלם, but it
> is not Biblical Hebrew.
>
> Modern Israeli Hebrew? ??
>
> As a verb it is used around 30 times ± about 2 times, every time it is used
> to refer to something that is unknown.
>
> Derivatives, such as (WLM עולם again refer to something that is unknown, in
> this case a duration of time that is unknown at the time it is mentioned,
> and that included eternity as one option. We had a drawn out discussion
> of its duration a while back. Only in post-Biblical Hebrew does it
> have a meaning referring to the totality of the compiled creation.
>
> (LM עלם and (LMH עלמה referring to people was of those whose
> youth and social position precluded them from having been married, and sex
> outside of marriage was a no-no, so they were "unknown" in contrast to
> Genesis 4:1.
>
> It's a bit of a stretch to compare (LM עלם with )LM אלם to be mute, though
> one could possibly say that one is not likely to be loquacious about what
> one doesn't know.
>
> Karl W. Randolph