Biblical Hebrew Forum

["K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Yitzhak:
Thanks. Is that all the cognates we have?

That's what's so hard about doing lexicography—there is so often that we
have to admit that we don't have enough information to be sure about a
word's definition.

On Dec 29, 2007 10:29 AM, Yitzhak Sapir <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com> wrote:

> On Dec 28, 2007 6:25 PM, K Randolph wrote:
> > These two words are used only in Ezekiel. SRB is used only in 2:6 and
> SLWN
> > used both there and in 28:24. Known words used in parallel with them are
> > scorpion in 2:6 and thorn bush in 28:24. In 28:24 SLWN appears to be the
> > cause of infection.
> > SLWN looks like it comes from the same root as SLH, used in Psalm
> 119:118,
> > some sort of meaning connected with despising.
> >
> > Are there any more clues as to the meaning of these words?
>
> According to HALOT, srb in Arabic means 'to graze freely,' and in general
> in the
> Bible means 'obstinate.'
> Similarly, slwn has cognates in Jewish Aramaic, Mandaic, Syriac, Arabic,
> and
> Akkadian all meaning 'thorn,' just like in the Bible.
>
> Therefore, I would suggest that slwn is 'thorn' and sbr is 'weed.'
>
> Yitzhak Sapir


 Are there any thorn plants in Israel that cause scratches to become
infected? Something like poison oak? I thought of stinging nettle for SLWN,
but that is recognized as being SRPD, another word used only once in Bible.
Or maybe that word is wrongly defined?

SRB is a generic weed? Maybe. I thought $YT was, but maybe that is thistle.

Oh! To interview a native speaker!

Karl W. Randolph.