1. Not every Hebrew root needs be "attested" in the Hebrew bible.
There is ample evidence
that H is a softened X (as in היה HAYAH and חיה XAYAH), and thus
RHM may have been a
viable variant of רחם RXM, which may refer to mercy or to a womb.
One may argue that to
some ears an H sounds better than a X.
2. The Hebrew root AB does not mean 'father'; a root is incapable of
expressing such a
complex idea, all the root means is 'big'.
3. The editor of the Hebrew bible decided to write ABRAM with an
aleph, but עמרם AMRAM with an eyin.
4. There are woman names that start with AB, such as אבישג ABIY
$AG, and I doubt that this AB refers
to a father, down here or up there.
Isaac Fried, Boston University
On Mar 13, 2013, at 2:45 PM, [email protected] wrote:
There is, however, no such root raham attested in the Hebrew Bible
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