Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>]

Methinks that first came the root $L 'tall', (actually, I think that  
first came the single-consonant roots $ and L), then came the words:  
$ALAH, 'pull up' (related to TALAH), MI-$OL, 'road, path, DEREK  
SLULAH', $UAL, 'fox', $UL, 'fringe', $ALAL, ' (piled up) booty', E 
$EL, 'tree', $ALO$, 'three', *$AL$ELET, 'chain', *$LULIYT, 'puddle',  
etc.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Jan 5, 2011, at 7:36 PM, Nir cohen - Prof. Mat. wrote:

> > > or to put it another way; what was the language of the gov't; of  
> > > the >>
> priests; of the aristocracy; of the peasants on the street; of the  
> middle >>
> class; .... of lord& master to the servant in the home?
>
> fred would give a kingdom (which?) to find out in what language(s)  
> samson
> talked with delilah and bil'am with his mule. here i give just one  
> case study.
>
> samson's story is really about semitic puns, mostly easy ones (was  
> he teaching
> the philistines basic applied semitic lessons? no, because
> delilah's name is already semitic!).
>
> but one of the puns i only uncovered reading my arabic dictionary:  
> the story
> of the torched foxes. the question is: why did samson choose foxes  
> and not,
> say, wolves for his torches?
>
> clearly, because of their tails!!!
>
> it happens that torch in arabic is sha'le and fox in hebrew is shu'al.
>
> then, which etymology came first for the root "$(L": torch or wolf?
>
> a plausible answer is that there is some similarity between the  
> shape of the
> torch fire and the fox tail, giving an ancient common semitic word,  
> on which
> samson created his jem.
>
> interestingly, the arabic word for fox is th(lb, which maybe is  
> more ancient,
> or maybe just closer to aramaic, considering the th --> sh  
> transformation.
> conclusion: fox came before fire?
>
> in a very long shot, in indo-european can "fox" and "foco/fogo",  
> "zorro" and
> "zoroaster" be related in a similar way ? i wouldnt bet fred's  
> kingdom on it.
>
> nir cohen       
>
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