Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

0. She is not my "relative", she is my granddaughter, and she is not  
"very young", she is 5 years old.
1. Yes. ABAH and AWAH mean that something came, BA, materialized  
עבה (or עוה), and settled in our consciousness, driving us to  
yield to it's, often vehement, insistence. So, BA LI is a clear and  
succinct ANI MIT-ABAH (namely, מתאוה or מתעבה) LE-.
2. there is no such thing as "modern" Hebrew.
3. I return to my previous example. You may call (by voice) your  
daughter ZIYBAH, but you must write it ZIYVAH (the registrar may  
refuse to register ZIYBAH in order to protect the dignity and  
reputation of the child). We are calling her ZIYBAH (which is the  
same as ZIYVAH), but we know that it is written with a vav. Seeing  
the word and hearing the word are interconnected.
4. All you have to do to study Hebrew etymology is to put your mind  
to it.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Jan 31, 2011, at 10:34 AM, fred burlingame wrote:

> Hello Isaac:
>
> Thanks for your comments.
>
> Let me see if i understand.
>
>
> A. When your very young relative spontaneously announces to you,  
> her desire for ice cream, she proves the following facts.
>
> 1. אבה , (ah-va), strong's concordance number 14 equates with  
> בוא , (bo), strong's number 935, via the identity of meaning in  
> root letter ב (bet)?
>
> 2. Ancient hebrew enjoys equivalence with modern hebrew language on  
> a basic and fundamental level involving single letter roots?
>
> 3. Spoken language informs the written language (writing system) in  
> a manner that the latter cannot do alone?
>
> B. If we wish to learn the etymology of any hebrew word, (and of  
> equal import, the meaning of single letter roots), we need to  
> engage the following process.
>
> 1. Ignore or discount what you call "fillers;" what others call  
> "vowels," ...  א ע ה ; and focus on the consonants?
>
> regards,
>
> fred burlingame
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 6:07 AM, Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu> wrote:
> 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