B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

Isaac Fried wrote:That which is thick has a B in it, to wit: אב, 'father' and עב, 'cloud'; and that which is lofty has an L in it, to wit לוּל LUL, 'ladder'...

Shalom, Isaac,

Let us by no means overlook בעל, to heave one's being over and on top of another.

Yes. The ancient worship of the בעל BAAL was possibly the veneration of the he-goat, the תיש = אתה-איש, the dominant mounter and begetter.
However, we must not lose sight of the possibility that בעל = עב-על might be but the thick עב-אב and tall עוּל. Compare the
בוּל = בא-הוּא-על עץ, 'clump, block, hulk, of wood', of Isaiah 44:19
לְבוּל עֵץ אֶסְגּוֹד
NIV: "Shall I bow down to a block of wood?"

The feminine counterpart עשתוֹרת is perchance of the root עשר, עדר augmented by the PP את הוא את. Compare Deut. 7:13
שְׁגַר אֲלָפֶיךָ וְעַשְׁתְּרֹת צֹאנֶךָ
NIV: "the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks"

This leads us to reconsider the אדיר of Nahum 3:18
נָמוּ רֹעֶיךָ מֶלֶךְ אַשּׁוּר יִשְׁכְּנוּ אַדִּירֶיךָ
NIV: "King of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your nobles lie down to rest."
where אדיר is perhaps עדיר, the man appointed to guard the עדר EDER, 'flock'.

This current Hebrew month of אדר is possibly the month of אדרת העשב, 'the vast cover of vegetation rising to cover the earth as a fur after the winter.'

Isaac Fried, Boston University

There is one puzzling word built up around the uniliteral root ל, על, עלה L, which is תעלה = את-עלה TALAH, 'canal, channel, ditch', as in 2Kings 20:20
וַאֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה אֶת הַבְּרֵכָה וְאֶת הַתְּעָלָה וַיָּבֵא אֶת הַמַּיִם הָעִירָה
NIV: "and how he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city"
KJV: "and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city."
Is the תעלה so called on account of its walls rising עולים above ground to confine and direct the water, because it is lifted and leveled over ground like an aqueduct, because water is made to rise in it, or just because it is deep, and hence tall in reverse?
In any event, looking from below, the walls of the TALAH appear high, but looking from below, the TALAH seems deep. It is but the vantage point that distinguishes the deep from the tall.

An opinion was already expressed here that בְּרֵכָה, 'pool', has nothing to do with water, nor certainly with בֶּרֶך, 'knee', (ignore the silly DRUSH about man and beast kneeling by it to sip from its water). A BREKAH is, in my opinion, but a פְּרֵכָה a בּוֹר, BOR, 'dig'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

There is, of course, another תְּעָלָה = את-עלה, 'improvement, amelioration, advantage, profit, gain, rise in value or status', as in Jer. 46:11
שָּׁוְא הִרְבֵּית רְפֻאוֹת, תְּעָלָה אֵין לָךְ
NIV: "But you try many medicines in vain; there is no healing for you."
In current usage the word is תוֹעֶלֶת.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Isaac Fried wrote:...we must not lose sight of the possibility that בעל = עב-על might be but the thick עב-אב and tall עוּל.

Nor should we fail to discern that the opposite state of בעל, mass heaved up, is פרי, mass broken off.

Mark Lightman wrote:...פרי, mass broken off...

Not to forget בָּרָא, to make something new by separating off mass from mass.

I like the way you put it in ASEHL p. 8:

Isaac Fried wrote:Language makes but one essential distinction: between the one and the many, the single and the group, the bound and the loose, the fixed and the movable, the firm and the dissolute, the solid and the rare, the steadfast and rickety, the whole and the disintegrated. All it sees is essentially the duality of mass and space, as revealed to an observer looking at distinctly discernible objects.

This was the essential choice faced by the second Hebrew speaker: that which was above her (ל) versus that which she could break off for herself (ר).

Yes! פרי העץ is פריע העץ, פריא העץ, בריא העץ, the many hanging identical holders and sustainers of the seed, that the tree started to create, or bear, upon hearing the command פרוּ וּרבוּ, "Be fruitful and increase in number".

From the augmented root פרר PRR, 'crumble, fragment', Isaiah 24:19
רֹעָה הִתְרֹעֲעָה הָאָרֶץ פּוֹר הִתְפּוֹרְרָה אֶרֶץ מוֹט הִתְמוֹטְטָה אָרֶץ
NIV: "The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is violently shaken."
we have the post biblical פֵּרוּר, 'crumb, scrap', and the פּוּר PUR, 'cast lot, rolled dice', of Esther 3:7.

Related to פרר is ברר BRR, 'select, discriminate, purge, clarify', Daniel 11:35
לִצְרוֹף בָּהֶם וּלְבָרֵר וְלַלְבֵּן
NIV: "so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless"

Certainly, one may select, the good from the bad, the true from the false, only if there are many choices, or alternatives, to choose from.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Hi, Isaac,

Isaac Fried wrote:Related to פרר is ברר BRR, 'select, discriminate, purge, clarify', Daniel 11:35
לִצְרוֹף בָּהֶם וּלְבָרֵר וְלַלְבֵּן
NIV: "so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless"

Certainly, one may select, the good from the bad, the true from the false, only if there are many choices, or alternatives, to choose from.

Not to forget עבר, to cross over, (compare ὑπέρ, πέραν uber, super, and note the r's) to extend one's mass beyond, to distinguish oneself as other, to be kept apart from other masses. Eve, by grasping the fruit, (note the r) chose the wrong liquid consonant. But in this case, the first Hebrew did well to embrace the ר, to migrate, (note the r) to be a nation apart, a kingdom of priests.

Yes. We recall them one and all, the entire חבוּרה
עברה EBRAH, 'ire, anger, wrath, rage', Isaiah 13:9-13
הִנֵּה יוֹם יהוה בָּא אַכְזָרִי וְעֶבְרָה וַחֲרוֹן אָף ... עַל כֵּן שָׁמַיִם אַרְגִּיז וְתִרְעַשׁ הָאָרֶץ מִמְּקוֹמָהּ בְּעֶבְרַת יהוה צְבָאוֹת וּבְיוֹם חֲרוֹן אַפּוֹ
An R in every word: אַכְזָרִי, עֶבְרָה, חֲרוֹן, אַרְגִּיז, תִרְעַשׁ
עבוּר ABUR, 'produce, בר', Jos. 5:11
עוּבר UBAR, 'fetus, embryo', post biblical, from Job 21:10
שׁוֹרוֹ עִבַּר וְלֹא יַגְעִל תְּפַלֵּט פָּרָתוֹ וְלֹא תְשַׁכֵּל
NIV "Their bulls never fail to breed; their cows calve and do not miscarry"
עפר APAR, 'dust'.
אפר EPER, 'ash'. Post biblical אפוֹר APOR, 'grey', אִפּוּר IPUR, 'makeup, applied cosmetics'.
אבר EBER, 'wing', Ps. 55:7. Post biblical אֵבָר EBAR, 'limb, member, organ'.
אויר AWIYR, post biblical, 'air', אוירון AWIYRON, 'airplane'.
עיור IYWER, 'blind, of broken eyes'.


Isaac Fried, Boston University

Isaac Fried wrote:Yes. We recall them one and all, the entire חבוּרה
עברה EBRAH, 'ire, anger, wrath, rage', Isaiah 13:9-13
הִנֵּה יוֹם יהוה בָּא אַכְזָרִי וְעֶבְרָה וַחֲרוֹן אָף ... עַל כֵּן שָׁמַיִם אַרְגִּיז וְתִרְעַשׁ הָאָרֶץ מִמְּקוֹמָהּ בְּעֶבְרַת יהוה צְבָאוֹת וּבְיוֹם חֲרוֹן אַפּוֹ
An R in every word: אַכְזָרִי, עֶבְרָה, חֲרוֹן, אַרְגִּיז, תִרְעַשׁ

Yes! To the first speakers of Hebrew, the עברה could only appear to be coming OUT OF God.

עפר, 'dust'.

Yes! Scooping up particles of earthy mass, the first speakers would note how it detaches OFF and AWAY from the earth. The opposite state of עפר, is, methinks, אבל, grassy mass projecting UP and ABOVE, the earth.

Isaac Fried wrote:אויר AWIYR, post biblical, 'air', אוירון AWIYRON, 'airplane'.

Not to forget אוֹר, the primordial, mass-less (note the lack of a marker for the any of the first six fundamental concepts) SEPARATOR OFF FROM darkness.

Always to keep in mind that רֵעַ REA, 'friend', as in 2Sam. 13:3, has nothing to do רֹעַ ROA, 'evil, wicked, malice, obnoxious', as in 1Sam 17:28.

Isaac Fried, Boston University