Biblical Hebrew Forum

[fred burlingame <tensorpath AT gmail.com>]

Hello Isaac;

That was a clever turn of a phrase.

How do you reach the conclusion that the root, single letter B, means
basically "come, be, exist, have substance?" By reasoning back from the
actual usages of the descendant or child, two and three letter roots?

Does your paragraph "2" below imply a past tense for the "qatal" form,
subject to usage exceptions?

Very interesting that the ancient hebrew language enjoyed more flexibility
than the modern language. It sounds like the evolution of languages mirrors
the evolution of governments ... more and more rules.

regards,

fred burlingame

On Sat, Jan 29, 2011 at 8:33 PM, Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu> wrote:

> 1. Grammaticalization made the language ever more formal and rigid, yet,
> WA-YI-$LAX essentially means (it come to pass that)-(he)-(send).
> 2, "qatal' is just short for he-qatal-him, the past being the "natural"
> tense for an act.
> 3. I don't give a hoot for the opinion of "mainstream" educators, book
> sellers and academics. They are to me the ox snugly following the rut.
> 4. The letter B is the root of BA, 'come, be, exist, have substance'.
>
> Isaac Fried, Boston University
>
>
>