Let's take the 'theories and standards' thread on a meaningful tangent. Karl
wrote:
"...I noticed
that several of the triliteral roots were in practice biliteral (two
letters) which were made into triliteral roots by the addition of a medial
waw or a doubling of the second letter. There are also a few quadraliteral
roots."
The geminate roots are actually not three consonants, but rather one normal
consonant and a doubled second consonant. They often look like purely
biconsonantal because Hebrew does not permit doubling (through the use of
dagesh forte) of the first or final consonant of a word. However, if you look
at the cognate forms in Arabic, which does permit doubling, you'll notice the
phenomenon.
Regards,
GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au
Re: [b-hebrew] theories and standards
, (continued)