From Hebrew root to verb and noun

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Isaac Fried
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Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2013 8:32 pm

From Hebrew root to verb and noun

Post by Isaac Fried »

Note that לָבוּשׁ = לב-הוּא-שׁ LABU$ is an act, הוּא being the person so dressed, for example as in 1Sam 17:5
וְכוֹבַע נְחֹשֶׁת עַל רֹאשׁוֹ וְשִׁרְיוֹן קַשְׂקַשִּׂים הוּא לָבוּשׁ
KJV: "And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail"
But, לְבוּשׁ = לב-הוּא-שׁ LBU$ is a name, הוּא being the article itself, (הוּא, 'he') having the nature of the root לבשׁ, for example as in Job 24:10
עָרוֹם הִלְּכוּ בְּלִי לְבוּשׁ
KJV: "They cause him to go naked without clothing"

Isaac Fried, Boston University
Isaac Fried
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Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2013 8:32 pm

Re: From Hebrew root to verb and noun

Post by Isaac Fried »

קַשְׂקַשִּׂים = קשה-קשה-הם, namely, many little hard scales.

Isaac Fried, Boston University
Isaac Fried
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Re: From Hebrew root to verb and noun

Post by Isaac Fried »

Hebrew is further extended, enhanced and enriched by variously using a differentiating contracted U/I/O for הוּא/היא 'he', for example:
עַמּוּד = עמ-הוּא-ד, 'post, pillar, column'
עָמִיד = עמ-היא-ד, modern 'durable, resistant'
עֲמוֹד = עמ-הוּא-ד, 'stand!'. For a female it is עִמְדִי = ע-היא-מד-היא, and for the many it is עִמְדוּ = ע-היא-מד-הוּא

Note that
שָׁמִיר = שמ-היא-ר, modern 'dill', as in Isaiah 5:6
וְעָלָה שָׁמִיר וָשָׁיִת
NIV: "and briers and thorns will grow there."
and שׁוּמָר = ש-הוּא-מר, modern 'fennel', are both from the root שמר but not in the sense of 'guard', but are rather related to זמיר, סמיר, צמיר, תמיר describing this woolly and leafy shrub.
שָׁיִת, I think, is a variant of זָיִת

Isaac Fried, Boston University
Isaac Fried
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Re: From Hebrew root to verb and noun

Post by Isaac Fried »

כּוֹבַע KOBA, 'hat, cap, helmet', is from the root כבע which is a bona fide member of the root family
גבא, גבה, גבע, גבב, גוב
גוע
גוף, גפף
כבה, כבע, כוה
כפה, כפף
קבע, קוה, קפא

Compare מִגְבָּעָה = מי-גבעה MI-GBAAH, 'hat', (kind of מכבעה or מקבעה with the prefixed מי meaning 'that which is' high or tall) as in Ex. 29:9
וחָבַשְׁתָּ לָהֶם מִגְבָּעֹת
ASV: "and bind head-tires on them"
KJV: "and put the bonnets on them"
NIV: "and fasten caps on them"
מִגְבָּעָה is evidently related to גבעה GIBAH, 'hill', גביע GABIYA, 'goblet, cup', and גבעוֹל GIBOL, 'stem', all having a גב GAB, 'back', and all being גבוֹה GABOHA, 'tall, high' upon the head.

Isaac Fried, Boston University
Isaac Fried
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Re: From Hebrew root to verb and noun

Post by Isaac Fried »

Consider this case of a form vacillating between a name and an act.

שָלִיחַ = של-היא-ח from the biblical root שלח $ALAX, 'send', is 'emissary, envoy, courier, delivery person', from which we have nowadays מֵרוֹץ שְׁלִיחִים, 'relay race', שְׁלִיחַ צִבּוּר, 'prayer leader', and דוֹאַר שליחים, 'messenger service, courier service'.

In Isaiah 16:8 we have שְלוּחָה = של-הוּא-ח-היא $LUXAH, 'branch, shoot, root'.
שְׂרוּקֶּיהָ עַד יַעְזֵר נָגָעוּ תָּעוּ מִדְבָּר שְׁלֻחוֹתֶיהָ נִטְּשׁוּ עָבְרוּ יָם
KJV: "the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea."
ASV: "the choice branches thereof, which reached even unto Jazer, which wandered into the wilderness; its shoots were spread abroad, they passed over the sea."
In spoken Hebrew שְׁלוּחָה is 'extension, branch', but for a bank it is סְנִיף, an extension of the biblical צָנִיף, סָעִיף, עָנָף and זָנָב, 'tail, appendix'.

In Jer. 49:14 we find שָלוּחַ = של-הוּא-ח $ALUTX, 'sent',
צִיר בַּגּוֹיִם שָׁלוּחַ
KJV: "an ambassador is sent unto the heathen"
and in Gen. 49:21
נַפְתָּלִי אַיָּלָה שְׁלֻחָה
NIV: "Naphtali is a doe set free" (to my understanding it is: "Naphtali is a free doe", the "set" is extra-textual; both הוּא and היא of שְׁלֻחָה = של-הוּא-ח-היא refer to the אַיָּלָה, the doe, being in the state שלח 'free'. I don't think there is a covert reference in the text to an anonymous or mysterious background person responsible for setting the doe free)

nowadays שָלוּחַ (plural שְלוּחִים) came to mean not merely a free wanderer (אַיָּלָה שְׁלֻחָה), but also an ideological emissary, a missionary, actually set loose by an organization.

Isaac Fried, Boston University
Isaac Fried
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Re: From Hebrew root to verb and noun

Post by Isaac Fried »

שְׂרוּקֶּיהָ (actually שְׂרוּגֶּיהָ see Gen. 40:10
וּבַגֶּפֶן שְׁלֹשָׁה שָׂרִיגִם וְהִוא כְפֹרַחַת עָלְתָה נִצָּהּ הִבְשִׁילוּ אַשְׁכְּלֹתֶיהָ עֲנָבִים)
of Isaiah 16:8 is of the root שׂרק, a variant of
זרק, טרק, ירק, סרק

In Zachariah 10:8 we find שׁרק in the sense of 'whistle', of throwing (זרק) out of the mouth a long and thin, a branch-like, a שָׂרוֹק or a שׂוֹרֵק like, stream of sounding air.
אֶשְׁרְקָה לָהֶם וַאֲקַבְּצֵם
KJV: "I will hiss for them, and gather them"
NIV: "I will signal for them and gather them"
OJB: "I will whistle for them, and I will gather them in"

This is one of of the the instances of the analogy between speech and plant growth.

Isaac Fried, Boston University
Isaac Fried
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Re: From Hebrew root to verb and noun

Post by Isaac Fried »

The PP את AT is leading in תַּאֲוָה = את-אוה, 'craving, lust, desire, passion, delight', from the root אוה

Is the tree name תמר = אתה-מר?

I suspect that בת =ב-את, 'daughter', בן = ב-אן, 'son', צאן = צא-אן, 'sheep', and שבת = שבע-את 'the seventh (= seven-th) day.

Isaac Fried, Boston University
Isaac Fried
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Re: From Hebrew root to verb and noun

Post by Isaac Fried »

I have a student by the name of Magdalena, apparently from the Hebrew מגדל = מה-גדל, 'that which is tall'. The "prefix" מה, מי is commonly used to make nouns out of roots , for example:

מָאוֹר = מה-אוֹר Gen. 1:16
מַבּוּעַ = מה-בוּע = מה-נבוּע Isaiah 49:10
מַעְגַּל = מה-עגל Isaiah 26:7
מַעֲבַר = מה-עבר gen. 32:23
מַאֲמַר = מה-אמר Esther 1:15
מַהֲלַךְ = מה-הלך Yonah 3:3
מַעְצוֹר = מה-עצור Sam.-1 14:6

Here are some post biblical and brand new
מאסר = מה-אסר imprisonment
מאמץ = מה-אמץ effort
מאחז = מה-אחז outpost
מפל = מה-(נ)פל waterfall
מפולת = מה-(נ)פוֹלֶת crash, avalanche, collapse
מטוֹס = מה-טוּס airplane
מאבק = מה-אבק struggle
מאזן = מה-אזן balance

Isaac Fried, Boston University
Isaac Fried
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Re: From Hebrew root to verb and noun

Post by Isaac Fried »

This is of interest
מִסְפָּר = מי-ספר, 'number',
as in Gen. 41:49
וַיִּצְבֹּר יוֹסֵף בָּר כְּחוֹל הַיָּם הַרְבֵּה מְאֹד עַד כִּי חָדַל לִסְפֹּר כִּי אֵין מִסְפָּר
KJV: "And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number."
NIV: "Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain, like the sand of the sea; it was so much that he stopped keeping records because it was beyond measure."
It is from the act ספר SAPAR, 'tell, narrate, relate', as in Isaiah 52:15
כֵּן יַזֶּה גּוֹיִם רַבִּים עָלָיו יִקְפְּצוּ מְלָכִים פִּיהֶם כִּי אֲשֶׁר לֹא סֻפַּר לָהֶם רָאוּ וַאֲשֶׁר לֹא שָׁמְעוּ הִתְבּוֹנָנוּ
NIV: "so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand."

In English too, number is the name given to a group containing so many items. Indeed, in the bank we have a teller who is an expert in counting and telling the amount of money in his hands.
Similarly, in German 'number' is 'Zhal', while 'erzählen' is 'to tell (to zähl)'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University
Isaac Fried
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Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2013 8:32 pm

Re: From Hebrew root to verb and noun

Post by Isaac Fried »

The noun making personal pronoun prefix ני NIY, for אני, is rare, but we do find נִדְבָּךְ = ני-דבך embedded in the "Aramaic" of Ezra 6:4
נִדְבָּכִין דִּי אֶבֶן גְּלָל תְּלָתָא וְנִדְבָּךְ דִּי אָע חֲדַת
KJV: "With three rows (courses) of great stones, and a row of new timber"
with נִדְבָּךְ being from the root דבך, a variant of the roots דבק, דפק 'glue, join'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University
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