Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

What is good about GALGAL, 'wheel', is that unlike the SALSAL-AH of  
Jer. 6:9,
and the CICEN-ET of Ex. 16:33, it is crystal clear what it is. It is  
one of the
greatest technical inventions ever, and a triumph of the human  
ingenuity.
I was once told by a man, a carpenter and wheelwright, who during  
world war 2,
was deported by the Russians from Poland to a remote village in  
Kazakhstan,
that he was revered there for his ability to build cart wheels by the  
simplest of tools
and from wood cut directly in the forest.

The success of the wheel rests on the geometrical fact that it is  
symmetrical
with respect to any line through the hub, namely, that it  consists  
of exactly
the same half mounds, GALIYM, on both sides of any such line. If this  
is what
motivated the ancient Hebrews to call it GALGAL is, of course, just a  
mere possibility.
They were also possibly impressed by the bottom coming up over and over,
or they may have been impressed by its turning over and coming again  
and again
upon the ground, or by the fact that the rim comes up-and-up from the  
hub.

As GALGAL comes from גל GAL, so תלתל TALTAL, 'tuft of hair,  
curl', as in Songs 5:11,
comes from תל TEL, 'mound, hillock' (which is תלול TALUL,  
'lofty', as in Ez. 17:22),
which is a variant of TLIY, 'hanging bag, quiver', as in Gen. 27:3,  
which is but a variant of DLIY, 'pail'.

Needless to say that the concept of "circle" is not in the Hebrew  
bible, and that לב LEB is certainly not "center".

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Aug 16, 2012, at 11:41 AM, Nir cohen - Prof. Mat. wrote:

> the phonetic repetition hints at an etymological repetition (but  
> not doubling!) of the action. few of them, if at
> all, are biblical.