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  • From: fred burlingame <tensorpath AT gmail.com>
  • To: K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] priest code?
  • Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2010 17:39:04 -0600

Karl:

Thanks for your comments. Please allow me to respond.

I agree with you that the system of dots and dashes seems a bit over the
top. But it's not my language; and it's not my document. And the creators of
the language/document apparently did not invest decades of their lives
manufacturing the text and ruining eyesight in the process ... just for the
fun of it. The text apparently carried the utmost import; dots, dashes and
homonyms included; for its original manufacturers and consumers.

The proposition that "let's toss in some homonyms in relative proximity to
spice up the text; or for a little icing on the cake" ... just doesn't
resonate as truth here.

Molecular biologists hew to the view that 98 percent of human dna represents
junk. That conclusion however, has recently become vulnerable to attack.

http://www.psrast.org/junkdna.htm

Likewise, the opinion that the masoretic text contains a lot of extraneous
features such as homonyms, or dots and dashes, somehow doesn't have the
"feel" of correctness.

I would also observe that a number of the posters here appear to earn a
living teaching or publishing this text. That circumstance also implies a
lack of frivolity associated with the text features.

I am not saying the masoretic text represents an all or nothing vehicle of
communication. The language indeed appears susceptible of consumption on a
variety of levels and according to the sophistication of the consumer.

But I am saying that despite my lack of understanding of the import of the
dots and dashes, none of the text may be extraneous, homonyms included.

And so, imho, "na-hal" used to convey different meanings of "inheritance"
and "stream valley" in close proximity, connects those two meanings in more
than an incidental manner.

regards,

fred burlingame

On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 3:29 PM, K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com> wrote:

> Fred:
>
> On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 8:54 AM, fred burlingame
> <tensorpath AT gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Hello all:
>>
>> Examination of the biblical hebrew ("BH") language's pieces and parts
>> useful, but perhaps the language's indivisibility requires an holistic
>> approach to proper understanding.
>>
>> And so we have:
>>
>> ויעלו עד נחל אשכול ויראו את הארץ ויניאו את לב בני ישראל לבלתי בא אל הארץ
>> אשר
>> נתן להם יהוה
>>
>> numbers 32:9;
>>
>> and
>>
>> לא נשוב אל בתינו עד התנחל בני ישראל איש נחלתו
>>
>> numbers 32:18
>>
>> The three letter word נחל encodes two widely different meanings in these
>> verses. The message of "stream valley" emerges in the first verse. And the
>> meaning of "inherit" or "possess" appears communicated by the second.
>>
>
> So? Were they pronounced the same? We don’t know, though a good chance that
> they were not. If not, then they were not homonyms, just happened to share
> the same consonants.
>
>>
>>
>> … I am simply
>> questioning whether the BH language can be understood, at all, and apart
>> from the masoretic text message, whatever the message might be.
>>
>> There is almost no problem understanding the Biblical text apart from the
> Masoretic tradition, in fact, those pesky dots often just get in the way.
> Most of the unpointed text (pre-Masoretic) can be understood with no problem
> at all. Context explains almost all the questions, which is why I emphasize
> context so much.
>
>>
>> regards,
>>
>> fred burlingame
>>
>
> You seem to be taking the argument that communication either has to be 100%
> or 0% with nothing in between. But taking from personal experience, most
> communication hovers between about 95–99% understood. And that holds true
> for Biblical Hebrew as well.
>
> Karl W. Randolph.
>
>




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