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  • From: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
  • To: fred burlingame <tensorpath AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: B-Hebrew List <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] one-to-one rendering of olam
  • Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2010 19:56:01 -0500

King James translates Jonah 2:6(7) as: I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever. The English etymology of 'ever' is uncertain, but both 'forever' and 'for eternity' are merely turns of speech for long, long time, an indefinite period of time, an occurrence with no end in sight.
Nowadays MA-ASAR OLAM is 'life in prison', but even this may not last "forever".

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Dec 11, 2010, at 7:28 PM, fred burlingame wrote:

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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