Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

As far as I can tell, GLGL גלגל is used only as a place name, never
referring to an object in Tanakh. The word for “wheel” is )PN אפן found in
places like Exodus 15:25. The word for “circle”, “circular” or “sphere” is
KhWG חוג found in places like Isaiah 40:22 and Proverbs 8:27.

By the way, Gilgal, the camping place, was down in the valley near Jericho,
not up in the nearby hills.

Karl W. Randolph.

On Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 9:10 AM, Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu> wrote:

> 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.
>
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