Thank you for your excellent analysis of the word 'sod'. Please consider the following insight: Sod may well refer to the Sanhedrin; which are a councel of 70 (well sodden with wine, no doubt) who assemble to sit and deliberate Torah, its esoteric dimension, and halachah! The Sanhedrin is comprised of Sages which are called "builders" (see Talmud Bavli and of Tractate Berakhoth)--builders are also founders. Nu?
The Arabic root sada'a - might it be related to the Hebrew צד (a side, such as you'd get by splitting something in two), or more specifically צדע (a side of the head)?
Bartalmei - nice idea...
Alex - According to Klein at least, it doesn't look likely. He says the Arabic cognate of צד is sadda (with a dot under the s), but meaning "he turned away, diverted."
As for צדע, he says that the Arabic cognate is sudgh (with a dot under the s), meaning "temple".
Connecting "black" to "white" etymologically can be done in English as well, when you consider that "black" comes from the same Indo-European root as "blank", or French "blanc", which means "white". The Indo-European root means "burning" or "glowing," while "black" in English originally meant "burnt".
Ehret, in "Reconstructing Proto-Afroasiatic," suggests (but with a question mark) that the Semitic root c-w-d, meaning "black" (the source of Arabic sawad) comes from an Afroasiatic root shaawd, meaning "wrap around", which then developed the meaning "cover up" and then "make dark". I wonder if this Afroasiatic root might have separately developed the meaning "gather together" and hence "assembly" from "wrap around," giving rise to Hebrew סוד. Alternatively, if the original meaning of Hebrew סוד is "secret," then it might still have developed from this Afroasiatic root, from the meaning "cover up."
The Afroasiatic root (#525 in Ehret's book) is said to have an Egyptian cognate meaning "to bandage" and Cushitic cognates meaning "to strangle" and "to mold pots with the hands".
Regarding the comment: "Hebrew sadin means "sheet", in Biblical Hebrew sadin meant "garment"." This makes sense in that a garment is something that envelopes and conceals a thing, potentialy keeping it secret. In that vein of thought the word appears to have a connection to sod.
Yeah, I would have included "sadin" in my original, but rejected, theory of the root meaning "to cover up."
"sod derives from a root סדד, meaning "to join""
what about solder (soudur)
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/...O27-
solder.html
(and then "solid"?)
That seems to have a different root:
http://www.etymonline.com/index.....php?
term=solid
What about a particular useage of "sod" in Genesis 25:29:
"And Jacob sod pottage...." Could that be construde as "And Jacob prepared pottage...."?
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