Three Words for Man

A place for those new to Biblical Hebrew to ask basic questions about the language of the Hebrew Bible.
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Isaac Fried
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Re: Three Words for Man

Post by Isaac Fried »

Chris writes
I hope that I have understood you correctly Isaac, that you say there is no connection between adam and Red? What about Isaiah 63:2 and song of songs where it mention the red chheks ? Also in Genesis the same word that is used for man is used for the earth (though in feminine I think), and the earth/dust though being of different colours around the world is strictly speaking dominated with a light reddish colour, and the fact that blood is red, (though I realise this is NOT strictly hebrew grammar it is interesting that if you take God ( the א out of Man) you are left with דם ).
You are right. אדוֹם, 'red', is, indeed, possibly from דם, 'blood'. A color is the name of a substance of this tint. Say, יָרוֹק, 'green', is the color of יֶרֶק, 'grass', (not not vice versa!) In English too, "green" is clearly related to "growth" and "grass". Recall Job 39:8
 יְתוּר הָרִים מִרְעֵהוּ וְאַחַר כָּל יָרוֹק יִדְרוֹשׁ
KJV: "The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing"
יָרוֹק being related to זָרוֹק, 'throw out green stems and shoots'.
אדם is certainly not so called because he was created from reddish dust. In fact Gen. 2:19 states that all life is created from האדמה, "out of the ground", meaning that the bodies of the living things are also made of the same minerals and elements of common matter.
אדם and אדמה have nothing to do with אדוֹם, 'red', but are rather both of the same root, related to עצם, 'solid'.
I will say it again. There is no "horizontal" relationships between Hebrew words. If related, then, they are related by a common root (colors excepted.)
We need to be on our guard no to succumb to the easy (and unfortunately common) fallacy of one Hebrew word "coming" from another similar word. Say, כפר, 'village', has nothing to do with כפוֹר, 'frost', nor with כפיר, 'lion'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University
www.hebrewetymology.com
ducky
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Re: Three Words for Man

Post by ducky »

I think that אדם and אדמה is connected to אדום.
I think that the אדום=red is not really a specific red, but its range is wide (also brown is "red").
and a man that is reddish, he is just with a brown skin color.

And all of these אדם roots is based on something else (a root meaning) that there is no use to try to cover it right now
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Jason Hare
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Re: Three Words for Man

Post by Jason Hare »

Chris Watts wrote: Sun Jun 06, 2021 4:03 pmHallo Jason, well thankyou for the time you took to post that, permit me to say however I still find my 1885 edition of Tragelles much easier on the eyes, not to mention more human friendly?
HALOT is the standard lexicon of biblical Hebrew in the English language. I kinda assume that Tragelles is an edition of Gesenius's lexicon, but I don't know what it is.

When you look at this dictionary, look for bold words as definitions. The verse references show where the word is found in its various senses. The cognate language references is to compare Hebrew to Ugaritic, Aramaic, Arabic, etc. It's a very useful dictionary and worth your time to familiarize yourself with.
Jason Hare
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Hebrew Café
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Isaac Fried
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Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2013 8:32 pm

Re: Three Words for Man

Post by Isaac Fried »

The root גבר is an intimate member of the root family
גבר, הבר, חבר, כבר, קבר
גפר, חפר, כפר

meaning: cover, mount, prevail, overcome.

Isaac Fried, Boston University
www.hebrewetymology.com
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