Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>]

Isaac Fried wrote:

"The root of the name is DBR containing the letter R. In my opinion
every Hebrew root that contains the letter (or the uni-litteral root)
R refers to a multi-particle material state. You can verify this by
going over all the Hebrew roots containing this letter.
The question is what is being aggregated or dispersed in the MIDBAR
for it to be so called. Some think it is in reference to the flocks
of sheep being brought there, while some think it in reference to its
landscape of piled sand, earth and stones."

There are a number of problems with this:


 1.  Your assumption that each radical must have a particular meaning on its 
own is not supported by anyone else I know of and does not seem to appreciate 
the way Semitic languages work. Therefore, who are the "some" who "think" the 
particle aggregation or dispersion refers to sheep or raw materials, and that 
this is specifically focused on the letter *resh* in the word MIDBAR?
 2.  Verification here does not mean proof. You can always come up with 
circumstantial evidence.
 3.  Is 'particle aggregation or dispersion' a category the ancients worked 
with? And I mean the real ancient ancients since they would have to be the 
first speakers of a Semitic language? If they did, how do you know? If you 
know from your theory of the Hebrew language, then your reasoning is entirely 
circular.



Regards,

GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au