George and Mike: My theory is that there is only one root, להם. This original root is "to beat," hence "to fight." The idea of beating dough or kneading leads to the noun, lechem, bread. Subsequently the a new verb arises as lacham, to have bread with someone. A branching off from the original root, rather than two homonyms.
Jonathan E. Mohler > > > The verb 'to fight' is לחם. But it not from the same word root as the word > for bread. There are two Hebrew roots לחם: > > לחם: to fight > לחם: to eat a meal with someone (eg. Prov 23.1). > The word for bread is related to the second of these roots, but not the > first. The two roots just happen to be homonyms but with different meanings > (like English tease, which can mean either to make fun of, or to pull/comb > out). > > You can see when there are homonymous roots in a lexicon by the fact that > they usually prefix a Roman numeral before the root (eg. I לחם and II לחם). > Thus, for example, you'll notice that the root ענה has four entries. > > > GEORGE ATHAS > Dean of Research, > Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au) > Sydney, Australia > > From: Mike Burke <[email protected]> > Reply-To: Mike Burke <[email protected]> > Date: Thursday, 11 April 2013 3:09 PM > To: George Athas <[email protected]>, B-Hebrew > <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] ובלחם > > Thank you. > > The sources I've checked seem to say that this word is derived from a word > meaning "fight," or "war." > > Doesn't that seem kinda odd? > > Does it indicate ancient food wars or cannibalism? > > Michael Burke > > P.S. I haven't added an automated signature yet, but thank you. >
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