Spoken Hebrew hints to "Proto-Semitic"?
Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2016 8:10 pm
I have recently encountered this headline in the travel section of a Hebrew daily
לשטוף ת'עיניים: הנופים המרהיבים של צפון איטליה
"To splash the eyes: The spectacular vistas of northern Italy"
in which ת'עיניים TA'EYNAYIM is playfully colloquial for את העיניים ET HA-EYNAYIM. It suggests to me that spoken Hebrew occasionally and naturally slips back to reveal "Proto-Semitic", in which את העיניים was possibly but אתה עיניים ETA (or ATAH) EYNAYIM.
המרהיבים HA-MA-RHIYB-IYM is from the root רהב (related to רחב 'wide, spacious, conspicuous'), 'glory, greatness, haughtiness', as in Ps. 40:5(4).
Isaac Fried, Boston University
לשטוף ת'עיניים: הנופים המרהיבים של צפון איטליה
"To splash the eyes: The spectacular vistas of northern Italy"
in which ת'עיניים TA'EYNAYIM is playfully colloquial for את העיניים ET HA-EYNAYIM. It suggests to me that spoken Hebrew occasionally and naturally slips back to reveal "Proto-Semitic", in which את העיניים was possibly but אתה עיניים ETA (or ATAH) EYNAYIM.
המרהיבים HA-MA-RHIYB-IYM is from the root רהב (related to רחב 'wide, spacious, conspicuous'), 'glory, greatness, haughtiness', as in Ps. 40:5(4).
Isaac Fried, Boston University