Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Ishinan" <ishinan AT comcast.net>]

Vadim Cherny wrote:

The thing is, Hebrew lacks homonyms. What you see as homonyms are actually 
related meanings. As Karl saw for himself, finding the common meaning 
requires some study but it is always there. This is a function of root cells. 
I take Steinberg's  dictionary 
(*) for a fine example of such search.
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Ishinan's response: 

In the Supplements to the Vetus Testamentum series which cover the whole 
range of Old Testament study, is a pertinent article which I recommend 
reading.  It is entitled: Hebrew Homonyms by G. R. Driver, p. 50. 

A preview of the article can be reviewed at:
http://books.google.com/books?id=nrI3AAAAIAAJ&dq=Hebrew++homonyms&source=gbs_navlinks_s

or

http://books.google.com/books?id=nrI3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=Hebrew++homonyms&source=bl&ots=EvlYyo-p1D&sig=-OF-MkRpNws1QOZrXovJ5C3Dwa4&hl=en&ei=FEdzSvzHKI26NZ_GmLEM&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3#v=onepage&q=Hebrew%20%20homonyms&f=false


I would also consult the following Hebrew scholars, who wrote extensively on 
the topic of Hebrew homonyms:

AARON BEN MOSES BEN ASHER who compiled a list of eighty homonyms, "Shemonim 
Zugim," which was afterward incorporated in the "Masora Finalis," s.v. א, and 
in the "Oklah we-Oklah" (). Aaron ben Moses may be regarded as the connecting 
link between the Masorites and the grammarians.

DAPIERA, SOLOMON BEN MESHULLAM (Neo-Hebraic poet of North Spain; died after 
1417) compiled a comprehensive dictionary of rimes in three parts, two of 
which dealt with homonyms and synonyms 

IBN BAL'AM, ABU ZAKARYA YAḤYA (R. JUDAH)  (Hebrew grammarian of Toledo, 
Spain, about 1070-90.) 
 "Ta'lif fi al-Muṭabiḳ wal-Mujanis" (in Hebrew, "Sefer ha-Tagnis"), on Hebrew 
homonyms, still unpublished. Only a fragment of the original Arabic has been 
preserved (see Poznanski in "R. E. J." xxxvi. 298). 

HEILPRIN, JEHIEL BEN SOLOMON: (Lithuanian rabbi, cabalist, and chronicler; 
born about 1660; died at Minsk about 1746). Of Heilprin's numerous works, 
mentioned in the "Seder ha-Dorot," the only one which has been published is 
"'Erke ha-Kinnuyim," a dictionary of synonyms and homonyms occurring in the 
Bible, Talmud, and other works, chiefly cabalistic (Dyhernfurth, 1806).

MOSES BEN MAIMON  (Talmudist, philosopher, astronomer, and physician; born at 
Cordova March 30, 1135; died at Cairo Dec. 13, 1204; known in Arabic 
literature as Abu 'Imran Musa ben Maimun ibn 'Abd Allah) . He devoted much of 
the first part of the "Moreh Nebukim" to the interpretation of the Biblical 
anthropomorphisms, endeavoring to define the meaning of each and to identify 
it with some transcendental metaphysical expression. Some of them are 
explained by him as perfect homonyms, denoting two or more absolutely 
distinct things; others, as imperfect homonyms, employed in some instances 
figuratively and in others homonymously.
     

            

           

                  
           
     

HADASSI, JUDAH BEN ELIJAH HAABEL:(Karaite scholar, controversialist, and 
liturgist; flourished at Constantinople in the middle of the twelfth 
century).  Hadassi mentions a previously written work of his entitled "Sefer 
Teren bi-Teren," a collection of homonyms which, he says, was an addition to 
the eighty pairs of Ben Asher (alphabets 163 ב, 168 ס, 173 נ). 

IBN EZRA, MOSES BEN JACOB HA-SALLAḤ (ABU HARUN MUSA): (Spanish philosopher, 
linguist, and poet; born at Granada about 1070; died after 1138; His 
"Tarshish" is accompanied by a commentary explaining the signification of the 
homonyms used.

JUDAH IBN BALAAM. wrote on the accents of the first three books of the 
Hagiographa, on homonyms ("Kitab al-Tajnis"), and several smaller treatises  
Mention should be made here of the following works pertaining to the subject, 
and written in Arabic by Spanish Jews of the eleventh and twelfth centuries:  
Abu Ibrahim ibn Barun's monograph "Kitab al-Muwazanah," on the relation of 
Hebrew to Arabic (edited, as far as extant, by Kokowzoff, St. Petersburg, 
1894); "Kitab al-Kamil" (in Hebrew "Sefer ha-Shalem"), including a grammar 
and lexicon, by Jacob b. Eleazar of Toledo, known only through extracts.
      




HILLEL I.  on Gezerah shawah: Argument from analogy. of Biblical passages 
containing synonyms or homonyms .
as the chief guides for the interpretation of the Scriptures and for the 
deduction of laws from them (Tosef., Sanh. vii.; the introduction to the 
Sifra, ed. Weiss, p. 3a, end; Ab. R. N. xxxvii.).
     

           

            Best regards,

            Ishinan B. Ishibashi
           
     




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