Biblical Hebrew Forum

[fred burlingame <tensorpath AT gmail.com>]

Hello Nir:

As I mentioned to Isaac in another post, explaining hebrew language by
reference to other languages cognate ... may well be a slippery slope to
misunderstanding hebrew. So much flexibility in word meaning exists within a
language, that to search other languages for hebrew word meanings, seems an
exercise in futility.

I am, in any event, more comfortable looking for individual word meanings in
the biblical hebrew language ("BH") by reference to how the word is used in
BH. I recognize that infrequently used hebrew words may escape my
understanding. But that is a price I am willing to pay.

You may be correct in your analysis that the arabic word for "torch" becomes
implied by the corresonding BH word.
I think that I will confine my energy and study however, to the BH text.

regards,

fred burlingame


On Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 6:36 PM, Nir cohen - Prof. Mat. 
<nir AT ccet.ufrn.br>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
>
> _______________________________________________
> b-hebrew mailing list
> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>