Dave,
Idkun. I have just finished reading E. Horowitz's book: " How the Hebrew Language Grew" and I am greatly impressed by it. The book is very readable and is surely written by a sincere person who is a great lover (lovers, though, are notorious for losing their head) of Hebrew. To his statement: (page xvii) "For language is logical. Almost all of its phenomena have reasonable, logical explanations." I can only offer a resounding Amen. His bold claim (page 128) that the פועל form and the נפעל form have but one sense is correct. His claim (page 175) that מפתח is a connected מה-פתח is true. His claim (page 318) that שמרת=שמר+אתה is correct and needs to be proclaimed, inspite of this being ignored in Hebrew grammar text books. His iconoclastic claim (page 334) that the long-short vowel distinction is mere grammatical fiction is good and true, as his claim (page 335) on the tentativeness of the open and closed syllables. But his etymology, I am afraid, is not serious, especially his reliance on Onomatopoeia. I firmly believe there is not one single biblical Hebrew word that is Onomatopoeic. That בקבוק 'bottle' comes from the sound בק-בוק it makes is an urban legend. A נחש 'snake' is not נע+חש, and ארי 'lion' is not thus named because it roars רי-רי. Modern Hebrew Onomatopoeic words are borrowed, such as קוקיה for the cuckoo bird, or they are inventions for the entertainment of children (all ages.) His claim that (some) triliterl roots are extensions of biliteral roots is a step in the right direction (in MY book I claim that ALL roots are compositions of uniliteral roots, or fundamental concepts. See my comment to "Truma") but his quest for the common denominator of these composed roots leads him astray and lands him in error. The root גז in my opinion does not connote 'cut' and the noun גזע (geza)does not mean 'a stump' but rather a 'trunk.' By the way, the etymology of asphalt may be סף-על-את or צף-על-את since the material is found floating (צף)on the heavy waters of the dead sea. It could be also from the roots טפל-ספל-שפל because it melts and sticks.
פריד יצחק
I hadn't realized that chalot (or h.alot, as some would seemingly prefer) were originally round. How long have we Jews been braiding our Shabat bread? Is it more true to tradition for us to bake them round year-long?
Just wondering.
Have a nice trip!
Isaac: You believe a word like לצלצל has no onomatopoeia?
And why should a grammar book declare the supposed derivation of its mentioned suffixes?
Well, there's no question that what we call "challah" today is not the original form of challah. For example, the Torah mentions a number of times חלת מצות - challat matzot - and nothing could be further from our current challah than matza!
Joel.
Of course not, but before considering צלצל let us consider the more obvious קרקר which in the Tanakh has the meaning of עקר-עקר 'tear down-tear down' or 'uproot-uproot' but later on (Midrash, Rashi) was given the purely onomatopoeic connotation of imitating the kur-kur call of chicken and frogs, which is its ONLY usage today in spoken Hebrew. Such is also the fate of קשקש=עקש+עקש and the like. The root צלל of which צלצל is an extension is a member of the root family:
דלל, זלל, טלל, ילל, סלל, צלל, שלל, תלל
extended to:
דלדל, זלזל, טלטל, סלסל, צלצל, שלשל, תלתל
all meaning 'to heap' or 'to pile.' Thus, תלתל is 'a curl' or a pile of hair and סלסול may equally mean curling the hair or trilling the voice. Hence צלצל in PRESENT DAY Hebrew means to pile up sound, metaphorically of course, and צליל is 'a sound note,' namely, a תליל of sound, with a possible onomatopeic connotation. Not in the Tanakh. The צליל לחם of Jud 7, 13 is translated (the "Authorized Version") as 'a cake of barley bread,' namely: צליל לחם=תליל לחם=סליל לחם. The צלצל כנפים of Jes 18, 1 is translated 'shadowing with wings' (the "new translation" has it 'buzzing of wings' a la onomatopoeia or bla-bla words.) The צלצל דגים of Job 40, 31 is translated 'fish spears.' The תצילנה שתי אזניו of 1Sam 3, 11 is translated 'both the ears...shall tingle.' The מצלות הסוס of Zach 14, 20 is translated 'bells of the horses.' This is what they think it is. But does this make sense: 'in that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses: HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD.' Upon the BELLS?!? Is מצלתים a 'tintinabula' so called for making a ציל-ציל sound? I do not think so.
As for the personal pronouns, people are conservative and seek the safety of precedents. There are those who claim that חרדי is "a back formation" of חרדי–
I am sorry but the last line fell off. Here is the last paragraph once more.
As for the personal pronouns, people are conservative and seek the safety of precedents. There are those who claim that חרדי is "a back formation" of חרדים while it is clear כאור בצהריים that חרדי=חרד+היא
פריד יצחק
Your notes said that "challal" can mean 'hollow'. Do most people say that that's just a coincidence, or do the words sound alike for a different reason.
Also, if you make a list of as many "ABAB" words as you can, (Isaac Fried listed some of them), there is a general theme that runs through most of them. That theme is: Cyclical/oscillating. If anyone has written about this phenomenon, please let me know.
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