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  • From: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
  • To: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] "Rope Imagery" in Biblical Hebrew
  • Date: Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:00:51 -0500

Jim,

(TR of proverbs 27:6 is possibly 'superfluous, excessive'.
YTR is also 'extensive, extended' and is a variant of Y$R 'linear, expanded, spread out' (from which is MI$OR, 'plane') as is YETER 'cord, chord'.
XBL is also a variant of GBL, 'accumulate, enclose', and hence GBUL, 'border'.
It is a fundamental (alas a very common) mistake to look for "horizontal" relationships among different Hebrew words derived from the same root, say, XEBEL, 'region', XEBEL, 'rope', XEBEL, 'upheaval', XEBEL, 'expropriation', TAXBULAH, 'devise'. A region is certainly not something "roped in".

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Dec 11, 2008, at 2:45 PM, JimStinehart AT aol.com wrote:


Isaac:

You wrote: “The root YTR is in my opinion a variant of the roots (TR, ($R,
'replete, plenty'. I hold it a basic tenet of Hebrew etymology that every
root
containing the letter L, such as XBL, refers to a state of elevation or
extension, and that every root that contains the letter R, such as XBR, refers to
a state of aggregation or dispersion.”

(TR means “to be abundant”, and ($R means “to make rich”. Originally,
those were good, positive words. (The fact that (TR is used at Proverbs 27: 6 to
excoriate an enemy’s “abundant” kisses as being deceitful does not override
the fact that (TR/“abundant” is basically a positive, good word.)

How did one create “abundance”/(TR and get “rich”/($R, while living in a
tent in rural Canaan in the Patriarchal Age? Why, by using a “rope”/YTR,
naturally, to rig one’s tent, to deal with one’s animals, for all manner of
agricultural activities, and at times even to “rope” off the boundaries of one’s
space against others. The greatest technological innovation enjoyed by the
first Hebrews, living in tents in rural Canaan, was manufactured, twisted “rope”,
made from local flax. The specific word for that type of “rope” is XBL,
which we have yet to examine in detail. But a second word for rope- like items,
including real “rope”/XBL, but also including a “cord” that may have simply
been a vine, and a “bowstring” that may have been fashioned from an animal’s
tendon, was YTR.

I am trying to show that the positive “rope imagery” eternally embedded in
the very language of Biblical Hebrew is really quite stunning. We have seen
this first at Genesis 49: 3, where “rope”/YTR is equated with “natural
superiority, excellence”/YTR. When we get to “rope”/XBL, we will see manufactured,
twisted real “rope”/XBL being equated with land and divinely-approved
inheritances of large regions of land.

My point is that the rural Bronze Age Canaan beginnings of Biblical Hebrew
are right there, eternally on display, if we will just take seriously this
magnificent, positive “rope imagery” embedded in the very language of Biblical
Hebrew. There’s not much in Biblical Hebrew from urban Mesopotamia, and
amazingly little from the colorful culture of neighboring Egypt. No, Biblical Hebrew
is by its very nature proudly rural Canaan all the way, a virgin pure west
Semitic language. And very enamored of “rope”.

You may well be right that “rope”/YTR is related to (TR/“abundant” and ($R/“
rich”. What I’m saying is that all those fine concepts were linked to “rope”
by the early tent-dwelling Hebrews in rural Canaan.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

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