B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

Seeing it in the news it occurred to me that it is possibly from the Hebrew תמר, 'palm tree', with the personal pronoun היא, 'he', inserted to create the word-name תמיר = אתה-מ-היא-ר that is made to mean 'he is lofty as a date tree'.
A similar insertion of הוּא to bring to the form תָּמוּר seems to have not fond favor with mothers seeking cute and appealing names for their children. The i sound somehow seems to hold a greater attraction then the u sound.

I suspect the תָּ TA of TAMAR to be the personal pronoun אתה ATAH, with the מר MAR part of the word to be related to אמר AMAR, and ימר YAMAR.
From אמר we have the אמיר AMIYR, 'treetop canopy, spread of branches', of Isaiah 17:6
וְנִשְׁאַר בּוֹ עוֹלֵלֹת כְּנֹקֶף זַיִת שְׁנַיִם שְׁלֹשָׁה גַּרְגְּרִים בְּרֹאשׁ אָמִיר אַרְבָּעָה חֲמִשָּׁה
בִּסְעִפֶיהָ פֹּרִיָּה
NIV: "Yet some gleanings will remain, as when an olive tree is beaten, leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
four or five on the fruitful boughs”
ימר YAMAR, 'elevate, uplift, exalt, dignify', is found in Isaiah 61:6
חֵיל גּוֹיִם תֹּאכֵלוּ וּבִכְבוֹדָם תִּתְיַמָּרוּ
NIV: "You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast."


There is also a post-biblical טמר, Arabic طمر, related to שמר $AMAR, 'guard, hide, conceal'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Er and Tamar = urim and Thummim

I believe that in norse plural is -r

The uni-literal root ר R refers in Hebrew a material state of several bodies, to wit, רדף, רמס, פרח, פרם, חבר, שבר etc. etc.

I think that the Semitic languages come in contact with the Indo-European languages at the very fundamental level of the uni-literal root, and that there too root R has a similar significance, to wit, rip, rend, break, separate, tear, free, etc. etc.

UR is 'transparent, clear', while TUM is 'opaque, obscure'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University