B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

A friend of mine confided in me today his opinion that the terrible natural law of conservation of energy was enacted only after Adam and his wife were evicted from the garden of the Lord.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

And this is relevant to Hebrew in what way?

Yigal Levin

The relevance lies in lending further credence to the interchangeability of the Hebrew letters ע eiyn and א alep. Here, that what is meant by גן עדן GAN EDEN, the Garden of Eden, of Gen. 3:23, is reasonably גן אדן 'the garden of the Lord, the ADON'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Last night while reading Genesis 2-3 my daughter pointed out to us that she detects a whiff of uncertainty in פן תמותון PEN TMUTUN of 3:3; as compared to כי תמותון KIY TMUTUN.

Indeed, Adam takes the forbidden fruit offered to him by his wife with equanimity, without uttering even one single word of protest, or precaution about impending death, as if he was sure that God will not exterminate his purpose of creation.

The implied point of the story is clearly that man was not created fully formed, but rather passed through an evolutionary process of constitutional perfection. By sharing the fruit, Eve saved her husband from being left a Neanderthal.

Then, man was barred from the tree of life, namely from the ability to use his ultimate intelligence to discover the secret of eternal life, which is true even to this day of the all-powerful science.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Isaac Fried wrote:The word טוב TOB is a variant of צוב COB, 'solid, stable, firm, sound', יציב It is the opposite of רע RA, 'flimsy, shaky, unsound, shakable', as in Is. 24:18-20

שׁלום יצחק

This particular etymology, whether historically (historically!) accurate or not, could be helpful in remembering a rare word by associating it with a more familiar one.

!תודה רבה

Mark Lightman wrote: This particular etymology, whether historically (historically!) accurate or not, could be helpful in remembering a rare word by associating it with a more familiar one.

Mark: Most of us politely ignore Isaac Fried and his untenable theories, because they are wrong and illogical, but he can’t recognize it.

1) he violates the etymological error rule. Just because two words look similar doesn’t mean that they’re from the same root. A common example given in English is the verb “strike” which, when looking at cognate languages and history, are at least two homonyms since middle English, if not earlier. As you know, homonyms are two or more words that sound the same but have different meanings. Homonyms are also found in Biblical Hebrew (actually many may be homographs, same writing without vowels, but may have been pronounced differently).

2) He freely mixes up letters that the ancient Hebrews didn’t.

Some of us tried to discuss his theories with him in the past, but found it futile. Today, if I find a posting by him, I just ignore it. You may go ahead and read it, but just remember the errors mentioned above.

Karl W. Randolph.

kwrandolph wrote:Most of us politely ignore Isaac Fried and his untenable theories, because they are wrong and illogical, but he can’t recognize it.

Hi, Karl.

The thought has occurred to me that Dr. Fried is producing a comic satire exposing the flaws of historical-comparative linguistics, which some people see as equally untenable. But maybe I am being led astray by the fact that he is such a witty and artful writer.

שָׁבוּעַ טוֹב

What is generally termed "Linguistics", I prefer to call "Englishtics", the articulate talk on the relationship between the neophyte English and its more or less ancient Indo-European precursors (from before English did us the inestimable favor of doing away with gender.) This leisurely academic indulgence in the European parlance has nothing to do with Hebrew.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Mark אשר

You are right in seeing the entire forest as being interconnects at the roots. For instance, once you accept that the Hebrew roots דבר DBR and צבר CBR are cousins, you realize that דיבר DIYBER, 'talked', is but ציבר CIYBER, 'gathered צבר a string of clustered words into a colloquy.'

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Isaac Fried wrote:...once you accept that the Hebrew roots דבר DBR and צבר CBR are cousins, you realize that דיבר DIYBER, 'talked', is but ציבר CIYBER, 'gathered צבר a string of clustered words into a colloquy.'

One thinks, perhaps, of Greek λέγω, "I pick up, gather," and λέγω, "I speak."

שׁלום חבר