and that they represent the older semitic root structure. assuming, say, 15-16
consonants this would give some 250 roots, clearly not enough for a
full-fledged language. gradually, a third (and even fourth) consonant was
added, providing some 3000-4000 roots, which are quite sufficient.
the third consonant, added to the two extent consonants, served
to refine and sub-divide the original notion of the verb. clearly the
process was not nearly as uniform as may appear from this description.
nevertheless, i imagine that this process may be used as a timer for the
separation of semitic into its branches/languages/dialects.
then, in later hebrew, a third letter was forced into the original
biconsonantal verbs in order to fit them into the general rule - a kind
of a sodomite bed. the others that did not fit just disappeared.
if i remember correctly, ancient egyptian had a similar consonant-adding
mechanism, which also refined the meaning
of the word.
nir cohen
>>> I was reading the wikipedia entry on arabic and came across this curious
tidbit, any comments?
"With research scientists realized that the triconsonantal root consists
of: 1) two beginning sounds - a rootcell and 2) the third sound which is
a precision element. I.e.: the rootcell f-r has the meaning of scattering in
space. Then, f-r-g means cleaving, f-r-d - making separate, f-r-s - tearing to
pieces; the rootcell f-q means the main idea of absence, so: f-q-d means
loosing, f-q-r means poverty and so on. "