Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Nir cohen - Prof. Mat." <nir AT ccet.ufrn.br>]

The Word: The Dictionary That Reveals the Hebrew Source of English
Isaac E. Mozeson p177 defines To'evah as taboo or untouchable 
rather than abomination. namely, a red line for behavior, justified
by godly abhorring of that behavior.

associated in the text with hate, detest, anger, sin, unclean.
in proverbs: also confronted with delight, righteousness, pure.

as to a possible root, i suggest (WH, (WYT (twisted his face, show disgust) 
and (WWN (sin, stray) though the passage from W to B may be a bit forced. 
but consider for example NWL, NW)L and NBL, $WL(YM) and $WBL, 
$W+ and $B+, GW and GB, GW$ and GB$/GWY$, maybe $RWWL-SRBL,
where this transition took place.

but also see the word (B (cloud), H(YB (obscured).

i see four stages in the biblical evolution of this word: 

1) taboo as seen by another culture (egypt; pre-moses), where i 
partially agree with isaac that this had to do with food, but 
also with tolerating foreign habits when they transgress a local 
religeous taboo. 

2) abomination to god as part of establishing the jewish faith as 
distinct from the others (post-moses).

3) "abominations of the nations" as later (late pre-exilic, and 
post-exilic) external influences of foreign rites (prophets, ezra).
here the original connotation was removed: taboo, and was replaced by:
detestable rite.
4) "commit abominations" as moral and religeous transgressions
in general, "the abomination of" as the quality of things which 
the person hates by nature (late prophets, proverbs).

nir cohen

On Sun, 24 Mar 2013 12:00:06 -0400, b-hebrew-request wrote
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