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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] language level

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  • From: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
  • To: fred burlingame <tensorpath AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] language level
  • Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 07:07:20 -0500

BA is translated as 'come', but it essentially means 'is here', 'is present', 'materialized', 'appeared', 'is substantial', and by implication 'thickened', 'acquired bulk'. I walk with my 5 years old granddaughter the streets of RAMAT-AVIV, by her home, and she will say to me SABA, BA LIY GLIYDAH, 'SABA, I desire Ice cream', which is a remarkably pertinent usage of the verb BA. The greatest semitist of the land (or for that matter the university of Oslo) could not have surpassed this in cleverness and deep understanding of the Hebrew language.
To return to the single-letter roots, I think that it should be obvious that GL, 'mound' =GAAH+ ALAH. In Hebrew:

גל = גאה+עלה גבע=גאה+עבה

Isaac Fried, Boston University
.
On Jan 30, 2011, at 11:25 PM, fred burlingame wrote:

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







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