Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>]

  Sorry, these are two different roots. The first is
 indeed (LM.
   The second is derived from the root GHayin LM.
 The proto-Semitic Ghayin was written already in the
 ancient paleo-Hebrew script with the same letter that
 served the letter (YIN.

  Compare the name of the city (azah. To this day
 the ancient pronounciation is preserved in the English
 spelling Ghaza, and, of course, in normal Arabic
 spoken and written use where it retains a separate letter.

    Uri Hurwitz                              Greay Neck, NY

   



As I have already observed the word OLAM ( עולם ) is of the root  
(LM ( עלם ), which certainly can not mean 'hidden, secrete,  
conceal'. To wit: this is also the root of ELEM and ALMAH ( עלם,  
עלמה ), 'young adults', which are not hidden, and have nothing to  
hide.

Isaac Fried, Boston University