Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Math professors know that the negative is but the positive, albeit  
upside down. They also know that EPES אפס (zero) is not "nothing =  
no-thing", which is metaphysics, not mathematics, but is rather the  
number x satisfying the equation a+x=a.
It appears to me that the biblical EPES אפס is a variant of EBES  
אבס, 'full, fat', and this is, in my opinion, the meaning of APS-EI  
AREC, 'the ends of the earth, the full extent of the earth'. I think  
that the English 'and' and 'end' are also one and the same word. When  
something ends, another thing ands.
Such use of the positive, in the sense of 'complete', to denote the  
negative in the sense of 'no more, nothing left', is also found,  
methinks, in TAM (not TAM-IYM) as in Gen. 47:18 or Jos. 4:11, and  
KALAH, as in Isaiah 10:23.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Mar 13, 2011, at 3:36 PM, Nir cohen - Prof. Mat. wrote:

> david,
>
> i guess PSS is your "modern" version of BH PS/PSH?
>
> also, i am not sure that EFES and AFSAYIM is used in BH to denote
> "nothing", although this is the current use of EFES. maybe they meant
> something like "fringe", as in the expression EFES KACEHU or MEY
> AFSAYIM. although i admit this can still be related to "vanishing".
>
> EFES also meant "just,but,though" which i find not too related to
> "vanish".
>
> egg or hen? perhaps the basic etymology is not the verb PS/PSS but
> the noun PAS which means a very thin line, as in joseph's pyjjamas.
>
> > /ePheS (???) "nothing, none, zero" from PaSaS (???) "to vanish."
>
> nir cohen
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