Etymological Resources

[SJLumby]

I think it would be very useful to have the following resource, fully tagged, made available on Accordance Bible software:

 

Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew

By Rabbi Matityahu Clark (Feldheim Publishing) 1-58330-431-2 $40

 

It would complement the already-available Greek Etymology. 

Edited January 22 by SJLumby

[Michel Gilbert]

From the publisher:

 

“This dictionary, based on the commentaries of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, is a monumental work and guide to understanding the Biblical commentary of Rabbi Hirsch. This work analyzes the deep concepts inherent in Hebrew, the Divine language, revealing how every word's root contains connotations essential to a greater understanding of Torah.”

 

This Wikipedia paragraph is an accurate description of Hirsch’s method:

 

“A final area of his work, which has only recently been re-discovered, was his etymological analysis of the Hebrew language. Most of this work is contained in his Torah commentary, where he analyses and compares the shorashim (three-letter root forms) of a large number of Hebrew words and develops an etymological system of the Hebrew language. This approach is based on the idea that letters that share a phonetic similarity, have similar meaning. For example, the words Zohar (light), Tzohar (translucent window), and Tahor (purity) are related words because the letters Zayin, Tzadie, and Tet are phonetically similar. This is an approach used in many places by the renowned biblical commentator Rashi as well. Although this effort was, in his own words, "totally unscientific", it has led to the recent publication of an ‘etymological dictionary of the Hebrew language.””

 

Edit: I’ve been debating whether to say this, but I think Accordance should prioritize adding standard reference works before something like this.

 

Edited January 22 by Michel Gilbert

[Mike Atnip]

1 hour ago, Michel Gilbert said:

From the publisher:

 

“This dictionary, based on the commentaries of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, is a monumental work and guide to understanding the Biblical commentary of Rabbi Hirsch. This work analyzes the deep concepts inherent in Hebrew, the Divine language, revealing how every word's root contains connotations essential to a greater understanding of Torah.”

 

This Wikipedia paragraph is an accurate description of Hirsch’s method:

 

“A final area of his work, which has only recently been re-discovered, was his etymological analysis of the Hebrew language. Most of this work is contained in his Torah commentary, where he analyses and compares the shorashim (three-letter root forms) of a large number of Hebrew words and develops an etymological system of the Hebrew language. This approach is based on the idea that letters that share a phonetic similarity, have similar meaning. For example, the words Zohar (light), Tzohar (translucent window), and Tahor (purity) are related words because the letters Zayin, Tzadie, and Tet are phonetically similar. This is an approach used in many places by the renowned biblical commentator Rashi as well. Although this effort was, in his own words, "totally unscientific", it has led to the recent publication of an ‘etymological dictionary of the Hebrew language.””

 

Edit: I’ve been debating whether to say this, but I think Accordance should prioritize adding standard reference works before something like this.

 

 

Thank you for this. I was wondering what the basis of his work was. I am also aware that etymologies can be deceiving. None-the-less, sometimes one can glean an insight from works like this. But as you said, focusing on more "mainline" works would be more important.

[Leopold Green]

Personally I would jump at the chance of getting this in accordance though I completely take Michel's point...