Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>]

Pere,

To ask within the language what a Hebrew verb means is to ask for its  
concrete, root meaning. The root ZKR contains the letter R and is  
hence referring to a material state of dispersion or aggregation. By  
the equivalence assumption on G, H, X, K, Q and D, Z, T, Y, S, C, $,  
T it is a member of the extended family of roots (some not in the HB)
דגר, יגר, סגר, שגר, תגר
דהר, זהר, טהר, יהר, סהר, צהר
טחר, יחר, סחר, צחר, שחר, תחר
זכר, סכר, שכר
דקר, זקר, יקר, שקר
The verb ZAKAR, 'integrate, assimilate, remember, recall to mind' is  
obviously a borrowing from ZHR, 'shine', SGR, 'enclose', SKR,  
'accumulate', and, the outer, ZQR, 'rise, thrust up'.
The BOR)-EY-KA of Ecclesiastes 12:1 is in the plural and means 'your  
ancestors, your progenitors, your forefathers' (that were also once  
young but are now gone.)

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Apr 21, 2008, at 12:26 AM, <pporta AT oham.net> <pporta AT oham.net> wrote:

> As I said some weeks ago, I'm reading Qohelet chapter 12 and trying to
> extend my understanding of it.
> So verse 1: WZ:KOR )ET BWOR:)EKF...., remember your creator in the  
> days of
> your youth... has, to my sense, a range of issues to deal with:
>
> 1. May we infer from this that chapter 12 was mainly written  -or  
> even ONLY
> written-  for young people?
> 2. May we understand the term B:XWROTEYKF not only as the youth  
> time of our
> life (say from 15 to 30 years of our life) but also as all the time  
> of our
> life that is before we become aged and/or decrepit?
> 3. What does here the verb "ZKR" really mean?
>
> Does it mean:
>
> A. Be aware that man has been created by someone, that no man has  
> created
> himself?
> B. Remember to worship this Creator and keep his rules?
>
> What is in fact the extent of this verb "ZKR"?  Does this ZKR get  
> the same
> extent, for example, as ZKR in Ecc 9:15, where it is said that  
> people did
> not remember (namely they forgot) a man who had by his wisdom  
> delivered them
> from ennemies?
>
> Pere Porta
> Barcelona (Spain)
>
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