Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>]

On 25/07/2007 09:55, Brak wrote:
> Still a bit foggy, but not as much as I originally was though - so 
> thanks so far!
>
> I can understand the idea of something being in front of you, you 
> realize it, and by explaining it you cause them to realize it. But still 
> something seems to be missing. For example: why use this word to express 
> "telling" instead of )MR
>
> And then how do you go from "in front" to "opposite".
> Before I thought that the main idea was opposite, and if something is on 
> the opposite side of a table as you are then they are in front of you - 
> so to me that made sense. But just because something is in front of you 
> doesn't mean that its on the opposite side of the table from you - it 
> could be on the same side.
>
> Thanks for the help so far, but I'm still not quite getting it.
>
>   
You shouldn't expect to get it. Hebrew, like all real human languages, 
is generally arbitrary. Even if there was originally a semantic link 
between NGD "opposite" and NGD "tell", that link is not necessarily at 
all visible in the stage of the language we see in the Bible. There are 
many things in language which you just have to accept and learn, not try 
to explain.

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