Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

David:

It appears to me that you are reading ideas into “uncancellable
meaning” that Rolf never intended.

> The
> so-called uncancellable meaning of "plod" can in some contexts be
> cancelled, as in the this sentence which is acceptable in my English
> dialect:
>
> (1) I plodded quickly through the mud to the garage.
>
I don’t know which dialect of English you refer to, but Rolf never
intended that “uncancellable meaning” would mean that individual words
would have exactly the same meanings across dialectal and language
boundaries, nor would the meanings remain unchanged over time. Just
that within a particular language at a particular time words may have
meanings that are uncancellable.

Now in the variety of English that I grew up learning, namely that of
the upper Midwest of the United States, “plod” has exactly the same
meaning as listed in the dictionary that came with my computer,
namely, “Plod [verb] [intrans.] walk doggedly and slowly with heavy
steps, • work slowly and perseveringly at a dull task [noun] a slow,
heavy walk • the sound of a heavy, dull tread; a thud.” That makes
your example above an oxymoron outside of your dialect. Therefore,
within the variety of English that I grew up speaking, namely upper
Midwest U.S., “plod” does have an uncancellable meaning referring to
slowly. (As a non-native speaker of English, Rolf would have to refer
to dictionary meanings more than would native speakers, hence you need
to respond to him according to dictionary listings instead of your
dialectal understandings.)

This is not a defense of Rolf’s dissertation, as I have not read it,
so I don’t know if Rolf has been correct in his attribution of
uncancellable meanings to Biblical Hebrew terms. But it certainly
appears that your attack on his work is based on an incorrect
understanding of the idea of uncancellable meaning.

Karl W. Randolph.