Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Gabe:
Thanks for a little levity on this list.

First the linguistic question: in looking at historic lexica, many times
Hebrew words were listed according to their claimed roots. Strong's is
listing the traditional understanding that the two are connected to the same
root.

I, however, have a problem with that. At the same time that I say that not
enough attention is being paid to the connections of the roots, derivatives
and their meanings, I also claim that there are root connections being made
that I believe are invalid. This is one of them. Other than the similarity
in form, I do not see how they can be connected.

In order for a root connection legitimately to be made, I think that a
definitional connection also has to be made. Absent that, the mere
similarity in spelling means nothing, after all, it could be that a
"derivative" of a root may actually be a loan word from another language.

As for getting up early in the morning, think back to the last time you went
camping: when the sun goes down, unless you have a powerful lamp or are
playing around the campfire, your head also hits the pillow. After a long
and leisurely sleep, your eyes pop open (unlike the dragging when the alarm
goes off after staying up late the evening before) and it is still dark. You
think of all the things to do and are raring to go once it becomes light
enough to start. Further, it is cooler in the early morning, so you can get
more done before it becomes so hot that it becomes a chore. That's the way I
see it.

Karl W. Randolph.

On Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 11:31 AM, Gabe Eisenstein 
<gabe AT cascadeaccess.com>wrote:

> I've been annoyingly pushing my agenda regarding Shechem as a theme in
> northern Israelite texts. But here's a strictly linguistic question: why
> does my Strong's say that shechem in the sense of "shoulder" derives
> from shacham, "to rise up early"?
> And further: what is the origin of this word? Why is there a special
> word for getting up early?
>
> A nonlinguistic question is: why is this verb used so often in the
> Bible? Why do people always have to do things early in the morning?
>
>
> Gabe Eisenstein