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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] English phonaesthetical cells in Hebrew (4)

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  • From: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
  • To: "Ishinan" <ishinan AT comcast.net>
  • Cc: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] English phonaesthetical cells in Hebrew (4)
  • Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2010 03:54:43 -0400

The Hebrew roots GDL, GZL

גדל, גזל

have anything to do do with cutting?

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Mar 21, 2010, at 1:39 AM, Ishinan wrote:


[ISAAC FRIED] - The assertion that the two-consonant Hebrew root gz meant 'cut' is an obvious fallacy. The Hebrew word GEZA( גזע
'tree trunk', has clearly nothing to do with cutting or truncating.

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[ISHINAN] - Not so my friend, as both Semitic roots gzz & gz` primarily mean cut and/or cut off, so are the B Hebrew and Classical Arabic gzz and gz` examples.

While the noun gdh in Arabic, the cognate of the Hebrew noun gz` for 'tree trunk', actually describes a trunk of a palm tree ONLY when it has been cut. So why and how did the mix up develop?

EXPLANATION: The Arabic cognate gdh`, mentioned above, has a medial letter *dh. *Ḏhāl (ﺫ) is one of the six letters the Arabic alphabet. It represents the voiced dental fricative (IPA: [ð] voiced dental fricative). Unfortunately the letter Ḏhāl (ﺫ) is lacking in Hebrew which uses instead the Hebrew letter ז zayn; the seventh letter of many Semitic abdjads. Zayn represents a voiced alveolar fricative, IPA /z/. Hence, the obvious confusion for many students who are unaware of the difference between the voiced dental fricative dhāl (ﺫ). As well as the voiced alveolar fricative zayn ז and their merge in Hebrew under zayn.

To bring this into perspective, the following are Arabic cognates to the Hebrew examples;

Arabic examples of cluster [gz] words using the letter [zāyy] ﺯ or [zayn].

gzz : cut , shave,
gz' : cut in parts, dividing in parts
gzr : cut, cut off, butcher
gz` : to cut, cut off, while the noun refers to a piece of wood (trellis) for the purpose of raising branches from the ground.
gzl: cut in two with a sword
gzm: cut off.

One can appreciate the complexity of this problem when the comparison is extended to the following Classical Arabic examples of cluster [gdh] words using the letter dhāl (ﺫ) which became indistinguishable with ז zayn in Hebrew.

gdhdh: cut off utterly
gdhr: cut, cut off, severed.
gdhf: cut, cut off.
gdhm: cut, cut off, amputate.

The merge between dhāl (ﺫ) and [zayn] ﺯ , a trend which took place in B Hebrew thousand of years ago, is occurring today with Modern Arabic speakers who corruptly utter words such as tlmyz (student) instead of tlmydh and 'Ustaz (professor) for 'Ustadh.

Ishinan Ishibashi













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