Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

On 9/24/07, pporta AT oham.net wrote:
> PP - >> Does anyone know of some word/s appearing in the Bible and
> consisting of 4
> >> letters of which ONLY the first is root consonant (radical)?
>
>
> YS - > > Words such as pywt "mouths" and btnw "our daughter" come to mind.
>
> PP - Yes as regards pywt (last word in Pr 5:4). But in btnw (Gn 34:17) ---
> is 't' not a root consonant (bt = daughter)?

The -t is a feminine marker to which the n of *bn assimilates (*bntu >
*bittu > *bitt > bat).
It all depends what you call a "root letter," but I think in most
examples, the -t
wouldn't be considered a root letter.

Yitzhak Sapir