Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] English phonaesthetical cells in Hebrew (4)
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:39:18 -0500
[ISAAC FRIED] - The assertion that the two-consonant Hebrew root gz meant
'cut' is an obvious fallacy. The Hebrew word GEZA( גזע
'tree trunk', has clearly nothing to do with cutting or truncating.
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[ISHINAN] - Not so my friend, as both Semitic roots gzz & gz` primarily mean
cut and/or cut off, so are the B Hebrew and Classical Arabic gzz and gz`
examples.
While the noun gdh in Arabic, the cognate of the Hebrew noun gz` for 'tree
trunk', actually describes a trunk of a palm tree ONLY when it has been cut.
So why and how did the mix up develop?
EXPLANATION: The Arabic cognate gdh`, mentioned above, has a medial letter
*dh. *Ḏhāl (ﺫ) is one of the six letters the Arabic alphabet. It represents
the voiced dental fricative (IPA: [ð] voiced dental fricative).
Unfortunately the letter Ḏhāl (ﺫ) is lacking in Hebrew which uses instead
the Hebrew letter ז zayn; the seventh letter of many Semitic abdjads.
Zayn represents a voiced alveolar fricative, IPA /z/. Hence, the obvious
confusion for many students who are unaware of the difference between the
voiced dental fricative dhāl (ﺫ). As well as the voiced alveolar fricative
zayn ז and their merge in Hebrew under zayn.
To bring this into perspective, the following are Arabic cognates to the
Hebrew examples;
Arabic examples of cluster [gz] words using the letter [zāyy] ﺯ or [zayn].
gzz : cut , shave,
gz' : cut in parts, dividing in parts
gzr : cut, cut off, butcher
gz` : to cut, cut off, while the noun refers to a piece of wood (trellis)
for the purpose of raising branches from the ground.
gzl: cut in two with a sword
gzm: cut off.
One can appreciate the complexity of this problem when the comparison is
extended to the following Classical Arabic examples of cluster [gdh] words
using the letter dhāl (ﺫ) which became indistinguishable with ז zayn in
Hebrew.
The merge between dhāl (ﺫ) and [zayn] ﺯ , a trend which took place in B
Hebrew thousand of years ago, is occurring today with Modern Arabic
speakers who corruptly utter words such as tlmyz (student) instead of tlmydh
and 'Ustaz (professor) for 'Ustadh.