B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

Strong's Lexicon defines this as "A primitive root; (figuratively) to invent -- devise, feign," and Brwn, Driver, Briggs reads as follows "בָּדָא verb devise, invent (bad sense) (Mishna id., Aramaic בְּדָא, invent; compare Arabic begin, make a beginning —

Qal Perfect בָּדָא 1 Kings 12:33; Participle suffix בּוֺדָאם (instead of בּוֺדְאָם) Nehemiah 6:8 — Jeroboam devised a feast in 8th month 1 Kings 12:33; invent accusation Nehemiah 6:8."

But is it only used in a bad sense, and is this sense part of the word?

(I ask because "make a beginning" doesn't seem to carry any bad sense.)

MGWB wrote:Strong's Lexicon …

Strong’s Lexicon doesn’t have a good reputation in this group.

MGWB wrote:… defines this as "A primitive root; (figuratively) to invent -- devise, feign," and Brwn, Driver, Briggs reads as follows "בָּדָא verb devise, invent (bad sense) (Mishna id., Aramaic בְּדָא, invent; compare Arabic begin, make a beginning —

Qal Perfect בָּדָא 1 Kings 12:33; Participle suffix בּוֺדָאם (instead of בּוֺדְאָם) Nehemiah 6:8 — Jeroboam devised a feast in 8th month 1 Kings 12:33; invent accusation Nehemiah 6:8."

But is it only used in a bad sense, and is this sense part of the word?

A word that is used only twice makes it impossible for us to insist that it had only a negative sense in its day-to-day usage. While both its uses in Tanakh are in a negative context, the way it’s used is not necessarily negative.

MGWB wrote:(I ask because "make a beginning" doesn't seem to carry any bad sense.)

One example of one of the dangers of relying on cognate languages.

Karl W. Randolph.