B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

In Isaiah 63:1 we read
מִי זֶה בָּא מֵאֱדוֹם חֲמוּץ בְּגָדִים מִבָּצְרָה
KJV: "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?"
with חֲמוּץ = חמ-הוּא-ץ related to כמוּס, קמוּץ, 'stain, soak, saturate'.

In Isaiah 1:17
דִּרְשׁוּ מִשְׁפָּט אַשְּׁרוּ חָמוֹץ
KJV: "seek judgment, relieve the oppressed"
the internal personal pronoun הוּא is represented by an O rather then an U, to bring about a shift in meaning: חָמוֹץ = חמ-הוּא-ץ is here related to חָמוֹס, 'oppression, rapacity, violence', still related to כמוֹס, קמוֹץ, 'grip, grab, grasp, seize'.

In spoken Hebrew חמצן =חמץ-אן XAMCAN, 'oxygen', is the חמסן or קמצן, 'grasper', of other elements.


Isaac Fried, Boston University

Ps. 73:21
כִּי יִתְחַמֵּץ לְבָבִי
NIV: "When my heart was grieved"
seems to me to actually mean כִּי יִתְקַמֵּץ לְבָבִי "When my heart is squeezed", with a concrete 'squeeze' instead of the vague 'grieve'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Yes, and where יתחמץ = היא-את-חמץ is with the two attached PP היא and את, both referring to the heart that is at once the performer and beneficiary of the act חמץ, 'squeeze, clamp, grip'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

And there is the חמיץ = חמ-היא-ץ, now with an internal היא 'he/she', for the thing itself, of Isaiah 30:24
וְהָאֲלָפִים וְהָעֲיָרִים עֹבְדֵי הָאֲדָמָה בְּלִיל חָמִיץ יֹאכֵלוּ אֲשֶׁר זֹרֶה בָרַחַת וּבַמִּזְרֶה
NIV: " The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel."

בְּלִיל = בל-היא-ל, pilled על-על 'up-up'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

I would further relate חמץ to גמץ of which the גוּמָץ, 'depression, hollow, cavity', of Eccl. 10:8
חֹפֵר גּוּמָּץ בּוֹ יִפּוֹל
NIV: "Whoever digs a pit may fall into it"

Notice that 'cavity' is an inverted 'cape', as in Hebrew where גֵּב, 'pit', as in Jer. 14:3
שָׁלְחוּ צְעִירֵיהֶם לַמָּיִם בָּאוּ עַל גֵּבִים לֹא מָצְאוּ מַיִם
NIV: "And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water"
is an inverted גַּב, 'high point', as in Ezekiel 16:24
וַתִּבְנִי לָךְ גָּב וַתַּעֲשִׂי לָךְ רָמָה
NIV: "you built a mound for yourself and made a lofty shrine"

Isaac Fried, Boston University