Isaac -
1 It is clear that /Chet/ in written Hebrew corresponds to two
proto-Semitic consonants which, to avoid typographic problems we can
write /kh/ and H. Similarly '/ayin/ in written Hebrew corresponds to two
proto-Semitic consonants which we can represent as /^c / and /gh/.
2. Most scholars have been convinced by Wevers (Wevers J. W., / Heth/ in
Classical Hebrew by in /Essays on the Ancient Semitic World/ ed. J. W.
Wevers and D. B. Redford, University of Toronto press 1970) and Blau
(/On Polyphony in Biblical Hebrew, / Israel Academy of Sciences and
Humanities Proceedings, vol. VI no. 2 1982) that the original dual
pronunciation /Chet/ and '/ayin/ was only lost in the Hellenistic period
-- i.e. these letters were polyphonic in the pre-exilic, Persian and early Hellenistic periods. E.g. see Sáenz-Badillos/ /p. 69
(Sáenz-Badillos/ /A/, A History of the Hebrew Language/ by, Cambridge
1993), Kutscher pp. 17-18 (Kutscher,/ /Eduard Y. , /A History of the
Hebrew Language/ edited by Raphael Kutscher Published by The Magnes
Press, 1982) and Rainey (Jewish Quarterly Review XCI pp. 419-427,
Jan.-Apr. 2001). See also Consonantal Polyphony in Biblical
http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew3.htm#polyphonyHebrew*__*
3. You can make the argument that you should ignore etymology in
defining the semantics of Biblical Hebrew words as is being done in
/T//he Dictionary of Classical Hebrew/ , David J.A. Clines, editor.
However even a synchronic approach cannot ignore the phonemic structure
of the language as it existed at the time of text composition.
4. In practice, in the cases of discontinuous semantic ranges of
biblical roots containing /Chet/ or '/ayin, /it seems useful to look at
the etymological background to see whether it might account for what se
see in the Hebrew.
5. Re the specifics see HALOT (/The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the
Old Testament // by Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner ; subsequently
revised by Walter Baumgartner and Johann Jakob Stamm ; with assistance
from Benedikt Hartmann ... [et al.]. Leiden ; New York : E.J. Brill, 1994)
naHal HALOT
Ugaritic nHlt --take in possession; nHl heir
Hebrew -- basically the same semantic range
Nkhl -- apparently gorge in Ugaritic and definitely in Akkadian
Hebrew -- basically the same semantic range
^c lm ('ayin, lamed, mem)
1. ^c lm = concealed in Arabic and possibly in Ugaritic with parallel
meanings in Hebrew
2. ghlm = dark, obscure in Ugaritic with possibly st same meaning in
Job 42:3 etc
3. ghlm = Ugaritic to be agitated, Arabic to be filled with
passionate desire.
4. Note the word for boy is derived from ghlm not ^c lm.
David Steinberg <mailto:webmaster AT adath-shalom.ca>
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/
David.Steinberg AT houseofdavid.ca <mailto:David.Steinberg AT houseofdavid.ca>
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