Very interesting.
Also, פעם, like רגל, and unlike many other nouns, has a commmonly-used dual form (פעמיים and רגליים). I would guess that the dual would develop particularly in relation to things which "normally" come in twos - משקפיים, מכנסיים, מספריים, not to mention heaps of body parts - which פעם in the sense of "time" doesn't, but in the sense of "foot" does.
Against that theory (or perhaps as exceptions requiring explanation) are seeming duals which don't "normally" come in twos -
(?)ציפורניים, שנתיים, שמיים (?), מים
Any thoughts?
Whoa, the word paam sounds like an analogous body part to the sole. That would be the PaLM. Of course, I suspect the etym. dictionaries would chalk it up to coincidence.
In Ugaritic, there are two distinct lexems: פען 'foot' and פאם 'time'. In Hebrew the two appear to have merged.
Daniel - Very interesting point - hadn't thought about it. I have a feeling I've probably read something about that dual form, but I'm not sure where. If I come across it again, I'll try to post about it.
Phil - It's true that the etymological dictionaries and other sources don't make a connection. However, there are other levels where one can connect words. Midrash - both ancient and modern - does a great job of teaching moral and other lessons by using connections between two words that aren't etymologically related. And of course there is the realm of puns and plays on words - we see such "fun" all the way back to the Bible.
Moshe - Klein mentions the Ugaritic cognate for "foot" but not for "time."
The Ugarit connection is a fascinating one...
As for dual forms: it seems all times may take dual forms, and we have evidenced in the tanakh פעמיים, שנתיים, שבועיים, יומיים.
As for your other examples:
* I am not convinced that ציפורניים was always pronounced as a dual. By searching mechon-mamre.org I find it only in Moed Katan 3 where it is spelt (in their recension) ציפורנים, and in Rambam's MT with two yods. Elsewhere in the talmud we have reference to ציפורן but no plural.
* מים to me is not a dual. It is a simple plural of *מָי I think.
* שמיים it might be worth hitting the books for, but I would not be surprised if it were considered dual by its nature as a רקיע המבדיל בין מים למים (as we will soon read).
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