Biblical Hebrew Forum

[fred burlingame <tensorpath AT gmail.com>]

Hello Isaac:

Thanks for your explanation of the עולם root.

How would you apply that understanding to the meaning of עולם in jonah 2:6?
"The bars of the earth surrounded me for a vast and lofty period of time?"

Obviously, Jonah cannot be praying for relief from "eternity" because
eternity changes not.

regards,

fred burlingame

On Sat, Dec 11, 2010 at 4:39 PM, Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu> wrote:

> I see the root (LM, or merely LM, as consisting of the combination of the
> single-consonant root L, 'lofty', and the single-consonant root M, 'massive,
> vast'. in the HB, (OLAM is mostly applied to time, but is nowadays used also
> for space, in the sense of 'universe, world'.
> In the word ELEM, the reference is to the body.
> The root עלם appears also in the form אלם, as in אלומה, 'sheaf, large
> pile', and אולם, 'large hall'. Nowadays אלים is 'bully, intimidator'.
>
> Isaac Fried, Boston University
>
>
> On Dec 11, 2010, at 2:30 AM, Bryant J. Williams III wrote:
>
> Jenni holds that its basic meaning "most distant times"
>>
>
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