Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Let's take the 'theories and standards' thread on a meaningful tangent. Karl 
wrote:

"...I noticed
that several of the triliteral roots were in practice biliteral (two
letters) which were made into triliteral roots by the addition of a medial
waw or a doubling of the second letter. There are also a few quadraliteral
roots."

The geminate roots are actually not three consonants, but rather one normal 
consonant and a doubled second consonant. They often look like purely 
biconsonantal because Hebrew does not permit doubling (through the use of 
dagesh forte) of the first or final consonant of a word. However, if you look 
at the cognate forms in Arabic, which does permit doubling, you'll notice the 
phenomenon.



Regards,

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