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  • From: Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] YHB
  • Date: Sun, 6 May 2012 19:21:02 -0700 (PDT)

   David,

  You wrote:

<Although my Arabic dictionary does not
have yehab..>

   There was a shift from Waw in Proto- Semitic
to a Y in NW Semitic languages.

    Therefore when looking for an Arabic lexical
equivalent for an initial Hebrew Yud in a biblical
root, one needs to the check the Arabic letter W.

   Just take a look at listings for the letter
Waw in a biblical  Hebrew Concordance:
practically none. Same in Phoenician.

   In this case there is indeed a root WHB
in Arabic which means "give, grant" etc.
One of he noun derivations is 'hibat' -
"gift, present". Similar meaning, though
spelled with a Y in ancient Aramaic,
is attested many centuries before
Talmudic time. Obviously I just sum up here.

  BTW, the Wahabi movement sponsored by  Saudi
Arabia takes its name from this root.

The Aramaic יהביך you cited from Rosh
Hashana 26b was translated long ago into
Hebrew as 'burden' ( "masa" ) with a Sin ).


Be that as it may, there has been a long-
time scholarly consensus about the
meaning of most occurrences of the
biblical root YHB.
 
Uri Hurwitz

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I found this quote in the Talmud - Mas. Rosh HaShana 26b

לא הוו ידעי רבנן מאי השלך על הי יהבך והוא יכלכלך
אמר רבה בר בר חנה
יומא חד הוה אזלינא בהדי ההוא טייעא הוה דרינא טונא ואמר לי שקול יהביך ושדי
אגלאי

This is translated as : "The Rabbis didn't know what was meant by 'Cast upon
the Lord thy yehab, and he shall sustain thee.'  Rabbah  b Bar Hanah said:
"One day I was travelling with an Arab (a specific Arab tribe) and he was
carrying a load (טונא) and he said to me, 'Lift up your yehab and put it on
(one of) the camels.'

Although my Arabic dictionary does not have yehab, the root HB has these
related meanings: get in motion, start moving, depart, set out, approach,
attack, tackle, embark,
begin, start doing something, rush / fly , rise, get up, revolt, rebel, blow,
rage (storm), waft, drift; (related nouns >) gust, breeze, strong wind, gale.

It seems these can be re-ordered roughly as follows: 
waft, drift, blow, rage (storm), rush, fly >

rise (= lift up) > get moving
rise (= lift up) > revolt, rebel, tackle, attack

It is possible that yehab = burden / load is related in that it means
"something that is lifted up"

הבה in Hebrew means "to give forth (of oneself), give, contribute"
הבב in Syriac means "to bloom, blossom, flourish, glitter, be showy"

Perhaps, the Arabic also literally means "to give forth" in that "waft,
drift, blow, rage (storm), rush, fly" are ways of "giving forth."

Shavua Tov,
David Kolinsky
Monterey CA


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  • [b-hebrew] YHB, David Kolinsky, 05/06/2012
    • <Possible follow-up(s)>
    • [b-hebrew] YHB, Uri Hurwitz, 05/06/2012

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