As to the question what came first the omelet or the egg, my answer
is that the root KR (cum variants GR, HR, XR, QR) came first.
You are right in saying that the Hebrew bible is not absolutely
detailed as to the job description of the ancient IKAR, yet it is
plenty clear that he was a worker of the land, possibly what we call
today a PALAX, rather than, say, a herder of sheep.
You are also right (and we don't need "Akkadian" for this) that the
root KR may refer to breaking up as well as to piling up, having to
do with the symmetrical view of the language of the positive and the
negative. In fact, we have from this root the verb KARAH, 'dig', as
in Ps. 7:16, as well as 'buy', in Dt. 2:6 (being possibly related to
SAKAR, 'accumulate'). Also KUR, 'crucible ', as in Dt. 4:20, and also
KIYOR and KIYRA-YIM. We have from this root also the object KAR,
'pillow, saddle', as in Gen. 31:34, or 'hillock, meadow', as in
Isaiah 30:23. We have from it also KOR, 'pile' as in 1R 4:22.
It is conceivable that this is also of the meaning of the fraction KR
of KEREM and KARMEL.
The Russian gora is good, and so is the German Acker.
Isaac Fried, Boston University
On Mar 12, 2011, at 9:30 AM, Nir cohen - Prof. Mat. wrote:
david,
i agree with your word association list in general. the problem is
that in this list one never knows which came first: the egg or the
hen. for example,
/eKaR (????) "(digger =>) farmer" from KaRaH (???) "to dig."
Cordially,
David Kolinsky
Monterey CA
i am not aware of the etymology "digger" for IKAR, and KRH is never
used in BH
with agricultural connotations, as far as i remember. what IKARIM
did was
called XR$, ZR(, (DR, (ZK, SQL etc. on the contraty, it was
gatherers-hunters
which dug, both roots and traps, rather than farmers. it is this
context
(traps) which is most used in BH.
thus the relation IKAR --> KARAH is not a natural one.
actually, i believe that "KAR,KUR" had a rather generic meaning in
akkadian:
field, meadow, mountain, mountain pass, turn pike,
ore mine, border, distant military post,...
and both IKAR and KARAH probably derived from there. now, the
origin of
KAR,KUR is not known to me but may have IE parallels (greek agora,
latin
agriculture, russian gora=mountain etc etc) and maybe even hebrew HAR.
-------------
also, i am surprised you did not comment in your list on a possible
connection
between AXAZ and EXAD.
best
nir cohen
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