Biblical Hebrew Forum

[fred burlingame <tensorpath AT gmail.com>]

Hello Isaac;

Thanks for your explanation.

If the base meaning of letter ב = thick, how does that conclusion fit with
the word בוא ? I thought that your meaning of the root letter "bet" in the
verb "bo" meant "to be?"

regards,

fred burlingame

On Sun, Jan 30, 2011 at 8:29 PM, Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu> wrote:

> The letters aleph and ayin are meaningless, they are mere filler letters.
> The words AB אב 'father', and AB עב 'cloud', are sounded today exactly the
> same way (but have different plurals). We know by context if it is cloud
> (namely, the thick klutzy clod of water hanging in the heavens), or it is
> father (namely, the thick klutzy clod of flesh and bones sitting at the head
> of the table, and rumored to have sired the children around him). So is
> final he. Thus, P (of the meaning 'up') is the root of both APAH אפה
> 'baked', and PAAH פאה 'extend'. AP עף is 'up', and so is AP אף 'nose'.
>
> Isaac Fried, Boston University
>
>
>