Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Vadim Cherny <him AT vadimcherny.org>]

Steinberg's dictionary offers a different explanation, actually.
He traces kasaph to "pale." Silver is pale and yearning makes one pale. 
Sometimes, casaph is used directly in the sense of "to become pale."
The common meaning is always there, no homonyms.

Vadim Cherny


Isaac Fried wrote:
> I would summarily reject any claim to the effect that KISUPIM, 
> 'yearning' is even remotely predicated on the desire for money, KESEP. 
>
>
> Isaac Fried, Boston University
>
> On Aug 1, 2009, at 1:52 AM, Vadim Cherny wrote:
>
> > Homonyms are *unrelated* at all, which is never the case with Hebrew 
> > words.
> > Sometimes, the connection is clear, as between "silver" and 
> > "yearning". Sometimes, less so: you need to see the common "biting" 
> > between "lion" and "frost."
> >
> > Vadim Cherny
> >
> > Isaac Fried wrote:
> > > Every Hebrew word is derived from a meaningful root. Words derived 
> > > from the same root need not be "horizontally" related. Think about 
> > > the minimal pairs KPOR, 'frost, crust", and KPIR, 'lion'; or 
> > > "KESEP", 'silver'', and KISUPIM, 'yearning'. 
> > > The basic meaning of $Q is 'elevated, elongated, large, piled up'. 
> > > $UK is an elevated (paved?) path, $OK is the long and fleshy [SAGI)] 
> > > leg part. The modern Hebrew $QIQAH, 'eagerness, desire', from the 
> > > biblical root $QQ, is an emotional build-up. 
> > >
> > > Isaac Fried, Boston University
> > >
> > >
> > > On Jul 31, 2009, at 3:04 PM, 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.
> > > >
> > > > Vadim Cherny
> > > >
> > > > > Ishinan:  My suggestion is to apply the comparative method among 
> > > > > other daughter Semitic languages (such as Akkadian, Ugaritic, 
> > > > > Arabic,  Ge?ez, etc.) to your examples.  Consult the respective 
> > > > > Proto-Semitic etymologies.  You'll actually discover that the  
> > > > > examples you gave above are homonyms. 
> > > > > I have found that sometimes the entries in Strong's Exhaustive 
> > > > > Concordance of the Bible can be misleading. 
> > > > > For example:
> > > > >
> > > > > 7783 shuwq  overflow, water. 7784 shuwq shook street. 7785 showq 
> > > > > shoke the (lower) leg/shin.
> > > > >
> > > > > These are not related. Hope this helps.
> > > > >
> > > > > Best regards,
> > > > >
> > > > > Ishinan B. Ishibashi
> > > >
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