John,
You are making a keen observation that goes to the heart of the
nature of the Hebrew language. What still needs to be done is better
qualify what you mean by "they basically mean the same thing".
This is how I see it. The Hebrew root describes a material fixed
state, not a process in time. The QAL form is a root plus two 'A'
sounds inserted into it to facilitate its utterance. The root YC) [I
am writing all Hebrew in English letters left to right], of
essentially the single consonant C, can not inherently describe such
an abstract and involved process as 'coming out' [notice that English
needs two words to express this Idea, as does Latin where 'exit' is
essentially the compound ex-it, and 'exist' is essentially the
compound ex-ist]. Existentially all YC) means is that something is,
post factum, out. This compels us to conclude that C by itself is a
single-consonant root [verb] corresponding to the English existence-
expressing substantive 'is'. Of course, the usage of the triliteral
root YC) is for something that we imagine was in the past in some
sense "inside" and now exists in some sense "outside". Doubled, it
produces CC from which we have CYIC, 'blossom, tuft, sprout, bud,
(EC, 'tree', NCC, 'sparkle', from which we have NYICOC, 'spark'. Also
the roots )C, N)C and N(C, and more.
The root MC) is commonly rendered as 'find' [of dubious English
etymology, possibly intended in the sense of 'to stumble or bend
upon', or 'being located or founded, or confined somewhere'], but is
closer in sense to 'available' or, again, 'exist'. In spoken Hebrew
M'CYI)UT is 'reality', and MACUYI is 'common' or 'available'.
Genesis 2:20 is surely not saying that God frantically ransacked his
drawers to find ADAM a mate, but rather that a mate was not
available, MACUYI, in all creation. A mate needed yet to be "brought
out".
Hence, as you say it rightly YC) and MC) "basically mean the
same thing", namely, 'exist'. By now you are saying But everything
exists, to which I am saying You are absolutely right.
Isaac Fried, Boston University
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