Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

1. I consider root ZB, ZV as composed of the two single consonant  
roots Z+B, namely, זע+בא or עז+עב or יצא+עבה or צאה 
+בעה. With a B, it is for the coming out of bodily fluids ,and with  
a V, it is for the coming out of light.
2. The English "to come" is somewhat misleading. BA is 'to be', and  
to be means to have עובי. How can you otherwise 'be'? ANI BA-BAYIT  
means I am home.
3. The question is what is "understand". Even Einstein did not  
understand what is really meant by בראשית ברא אלוהים  
את השמים ואת הארץ
I don't see any inherent difference between the language of the Torah  
and the language spoken today, except for this funny  VA-YI-GA$ (come- 
he-approach, presently-he-approach) form, which is now outmoded. I  
will try to find someone young speaking good Hebrew, but ignorant of  
the torah (in the diaspora it is easy as may children of Israeli  
parents speak good Hebrew but have gone to English school and have  
never opened the Hebrew bible) and read to him some passages and see  
if he gets it.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Jan 31, 2011, at 7:30 PM, fred burlingame wrote:

> Hello Isaac:
>
> Sorry about the mischaracterization of your granddaugther.
>
> If I understand you correctly, zee-vah זיוה the popular name;  
> and zeev-ah זיבה the illness, have a common etymology. And that  
> commonality includes the identity of letters "vav" ו and "bet" ב ;  
> and the single root meaning: "to come."
>
> The verb עבה "a-va" as thick, and as expressed in noun form 1  
> kings 7:26, I suppose I can see as emanating from the root letter  
> "bet," ב "to come."
>
> Your comment in your paragraph 2 is most interesting. I thought  
> that a person raised and trained in the hebrew language spoken in  
> israel today, cannot, absent special additional training,  
> understand a reading of the torah? Am I incorrect in this conclusion?
>
> In other words, the average college educated person in america, who  
> never read the english language bible, can nonetheless understand  
> the english language of the bible being read to him the first time  
> at say age 21.
>
> Is that true for the average college educated person in israel who  
> has never read the torah? Can she understand the torah being read  
> to her for the first time at say age 21? ... Or does such a person  
> exist?
>
> Thanks for your comments.
>
> regards,
>
> fred burlingame
>
> On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 5:33 PM, Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu> wrote:
> 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
>
> (Isaac Fried, Boston University
> > >