Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

The Online Etymology Dictionary says:

open(n)
early 13c., "an aperture or opening," from open(adj.). Meaning  
"public knowledge" (especially in out in the open) is from 1942, but  
cf. M.E. in open (late 14c.) "manifestly, publicly." The sense of "an  
open competition" is from 1926, originally in a golf context.

open(v)
O.E. openian "to open, open up, disclose, reveal," also intransitive,  
"become manifest, be open to or exposed to," from source of open  
(adj.), but etymology suggests the adjective is older. Open up "cease  
to be secretive" is from 1921. Related: Opened;opening.

open(adj)
O.E. open "not closed down, raised up" (of gates, eyelids, etc.),  
also "exposed, evident, well-known, public," often in a bad sense,  
"notorious, shameless;" from P.Gmc. *upana, lit. "put or set up" (cf.  
O.N. opinn, Swed. öppen, Dan. aaben, O.Fris. epen, O.H.G. offan  
"open"), from PIE *upo "up from under, over" (cf. L. sub, Gk. hypo;  
see sub). Related to up, and throughout Germanic the word has the  
appearance of a pp. of *up (v.), but no such verb has been found. The  
source of words for "open" in many I.E. languages seems to be an  
opposite of the word for "closed, shut" (e.g. Goth. uslukan).

Of physical spaces, "unobstructed, unencumbered," c.1200; of rooms  
with unclosed entrances, c.1300; of wounds, late 14c. Transferred  
sense of "frank, candid" is attested from early 14c. Of shops, etc.,  
"available for business," it dates from 1824. Open-handed "liberal,  
generous" is from c.1600. Open door in reference to international  
trading policies is attested from 1856. Open season is first recorded  
1896, of game; and figuratively 1914 of persons. Open book in the  
figurative sense of "person easy to understand" is from 1853. Open  
house "hospitality for all visitors" is first recorded 1824. Open-and- 
shut "simple, straightforward" first recorded 1841 in New Orleans.  
Open marriage, one in which the partners sleep with whomever they  
please, is from 1972. Open road (1817, Amer.Eng.) originally meant a  
public one; romanticized sense of "traveling as an expression of  
personal freedom" first recorded 1856, in Whitman.

1. In short, 'open = op-en' is 'lift up'.

2. Is PRX also an extended form of Pe, kind of as a flower opening  
(like a mouth) its petals, or a bird spreading (like the lips of the  
mouth) its wings? And what about PAAMON, bell, that looks exactly  
like an open mouth, even with a tongue loosely hanging inside it?

Isaac Fried


On Apr 29, 2012, at 8:24 AM, Bill wrote:

> Isaac Fried then wrote:
>
> > In Gen. 3:7 PAQAX is used to the parting of
> the eyelids to expose the  pupil (indeed, in the
> extended sense of understanding what one
> sees),  while in 1Ki 8:29 the verb PATAX is used
> for it. In Dt. 15:8 PATAX is  used for the parting of the fingers  
> of the hand.
>
> In addition, I can't understand why anyone would
> choose to interpret PAQAX in Genesis 3:7
> circuitously as "parting of the eyelids to expose
> the pupil" when the verb can be and, thus, has
> been ubiquitously interpreted as an obvious
> reference to opening the eyes. The former
> interpretation thus obfuscates the fact that
> parting and separating are nothing but forms of
> opening, Hence the phrase "spreading the legs" is
> tantamount to the phrase "opening the legs up".