Dear Isaac:
I don't know where you get your etymology for the meaning of (LM עלם, but it
is not Biblical Hebrew.
Modern Israeli Hebrew? ??
As a verb it is used around 30 times ± about 2 times, every time it is used
to refer to something that is unknown.
Derivatives, such as (WLM עולם again refer to something that is unknown, in
this case a duration of time that is unknown at the time it is mentioned,
and that included eternity as one option. We had a drawn out discussion
of its duration a while back. Only in post-Biblical Hebrew does it
have a meaning referring to the totality of the compiled creation.
(LM עלם and (LMH עלמה referring to people was of those whose
youth and social position precluded them from having been married, and sex
outside of marriage was a no-no, so they were "unknown" in contrast to
Genesis 4:1.
It's a bit of a stretch to compare (LM עלם with )LM אלם to be mute, though
one could possibly say that one is not likely to be loquacious about what
one doesn't know.
Karl W. Randolph
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