B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

Mark says
Other etymologists may see two different homophonic roots here

Says I
Indeed. There is no such thing as homophonic or homographic Hebrew roots.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

The root דבר DABAR is indeed a fruitful one. It is a variant טבר TBR (of which we have the טבור TABUR, 'hill, mound, cumulus', of Judges 9:37), of צבר CBR, 'gather, accumulate', of שבר $BR, 'crush', and of תבר TBR (of which the name הר תבור essentially הר טבור TABOR of Judges 4:6.)
We have already remarked that דיבר DIYBER, 'spoke' (the Etymology Dictionary thinks it may figuratively mean 'scatter words') is ציבר CIYBER, 'aggregated' words.

The manifestation of the contagious disease דבר DEBER is less clear. It is certainly a CEBER, 'an accumulation', of something. But of what? Possibly of blisters or scabs on the affected body, or possibly of ill animals, or even of dead bodies. The latter case is related to the ידבר YADBER, 'subdue, crush', of Ps. 47:(3)4
ידבר עמים תחתינו  ולאמים תחת רגלינו
KJV: "He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet."

In today's usage, הדברה HA-DBAR-AH (namely, הצברה HA-CBAR-AH of dead animals) is 'extermination' of vermin.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

And not to forget this. There is the שיח SI'AX, 'bush, shrub' as in Gen. 2:5, and there is the שיח 'discourse, utterance', of of Job 7:11
גם אני לא אחשך פי אדברה בצר רוחי אשיחה במר נפשי
KJV: "Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul"

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Isaac Fried wrote:Hebrew might liken the stream of sounds issuing from the mouth to the sprout and spread of branches and shoots.
...There is אמר AMAR, 'say, verbalize', and there is אמיר AMIYR, 'topmost branches..'

Shalom, Isaac.

I found another example while reading Delitzsch's Mark 4:31. גרגר is "grain, berry, olive," and גרגרות is "throat." In the spoken version of the language, גִּרְגֵּר can mean either "to pick berries" or "to gargle."

I read it as God created "day." He creates or 'light', yes, but what does he call this light? Answer: yom 'day'. So, what is it? Day. Therefore, on Day 1 he creates a period of light and calls it "day." He also creates a period of darkness and calls it "night."

Here is still another example: צפצף CPCP, the doubling of CP, which is a variant of
דב, זב, טב, סב, צב,שב
דו, זו, צו, תו
דף, זף, טף, יף, סף, צף, שף
all connoting 'expansion, inflation'.

In Isaiah 8:19 we encounter the sound emitting צפצוף CIPCUP (related to the post-biblical טפטוף TIPTUP, 'drizzle')
אל האבות ואל הידענים המצפצפים והמהגים
KJV: "them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter"

In Ezekiel 17:5-6 we encounter the plant kind צפצפה CAPCAPAH, rife of branch and leaf
ייקח מזרע הארץ וייתנהו בשדה זרע קח על מים רבים צפצפה שמו ויצמח ויהי לגפן סורחת שפלת קומה
KJV: "He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree. And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature"

Notice that the מצפה MI-CPEH, 'lookout point', of Isaiah 21:8, is actually a מצבה MI-CBEH, 'a swell', related to נצב NICAB, 'erect'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Isaac Fried wrote:Here is still another example...

Not to forget דבר, "discourse," and שׁבר, "grain."

Isaac Fried wrote:1. 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
וירעשו מוסדי ארץ  רעה התרעעה הארץ פור התפוררה ארץ מוט התמוטטה ארץ נוע תנוע
ארץ כשכור והתנודדה כמלונה וכבד עליה פשעה ונפלה ולא תסיף קום
"the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
2. There is no such thing as "pleasing".

Isaac Fried, Boston University

There is no such thing as "such" or "word," either. And that's how we come to meaninglessness in written exchange.

Concerning speech and vegetation, not to forget ניב NIYB or נוב NUB of which we have at once the ניב שפתים 'the issue of the lips', of Isaiah 57:19, and the תנובת השדה 'the issue of the field', of Ezekiel 36:30.

From the root NB are also the names of the high places נוב NOB and נבו NBO.

The root נב NB is a variant of נף NP, 'lift', of which we have the תנופה T-NUP-AH, 'swing', as in Lev. 9:21. Related to NP are the ענף ANAP, 'branch', of Ezekiel 17:8, and similarly, the ענב ANAB, 'grape', of Gen. 40:10.

Isaac Fried, Boston University