Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Isaac Fried:
 
You wrote:  “The two words (ELEM, 'youth', and TA-(ALUMAH, 'mystery, 
concealment', come from the same root essentially meaning 'amass, bury 
under'….”
 
Does ayin-yod-lamed-mem/(YLM at Genesis 14: 1 come from that same root?  Is 
it a west Semitic word?  If so, would it mean the “Dissembler” country?  
“Bury 
under” could mean “dissemble”, used in a negative sense.  Or do you go with 
the traditional view that ayin-yod-lamed-mem/(YLM is a non-west Semitic word 
referencing a far-off, non-Semitic country?
 
Ayin-yod-lamed-mem/(YLM at Genesis 14: 1 sure looks like a perfectly good 
west Semitic word to me.  Does it “sound foreign” to you?  Is it a 
non-Semitic 
foreign loanword, borrowed directly from a non-Semitic country, or 
alternatively borrowed indirectly via an east Semitic version of a 
non-Semitic word for a 
non-Semitic country?  
 
Ayin-yod-lamed-mem/(YLM at Genesis 14: 1 looks like a virgin pure west 
Semitic word to me.  To me, it has no exotic, foreign flavor at all.  But you 
have a 
much, much better feel for Biblical Hebrew than I do.  What’s your take on 
the linguistic background of ayin-yod-lamed-mem/(YLM at Genesis 14: 1?  Is it 
foreign/non-west Semitic?
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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