Give me some space, I can't breathe. Everyone needs some breathing room.
George, I do agree with you that one needs to guard against the etymological fallacy. However, in this case the connection between breathing and space/room/wide is both natural and persistent. Even from a physical standpoint, a modern balloon is expanded by breath. It might even be a universal connection as well: BReath and BReadth in English are both Bilabial-Liquid words (B-R or B-L in words like blow or flute); in Swahili Pua, nose and uPaNa, breadth/width, PuMua, breathe/take a rest. Anyway, since there's no more room for comment, I won't breathe another word. Jonathan Mohler Baptist Bible Graduate School Springfield, MO On Jul 18, 2013, at 11:00 AM, [email protected] wrote: > Re: [b-hebrew] What exactly is the semantic overlap between רוח as (1) > 'breathe, blow' and (2) 'to be wide, spacious'? > With etymological and semantic questions, Stewart, I recommend you consult a > good lexicon like Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the OT (HALOT). > > Here's a summary of what it says: > > Some early scholars proposed two different homonymous roots, one meaning to > breathe, the other meaning to expand or be wide. However, this seems > unlikely. Hebrew and cognate languages (eg. Phoenician) seem to associate > these two meanings so that we probably only have one single root. The meaning > of 'expand' only comes in causative stems. Also, Akkadian has a conceptually > similar root, napašu (cf. Hebrew נפשׁ), which also means both to breathe and > to expand. > > The thing to bear in mind with semantics is that while etymology can tell us > how words develop their meaning over time, their actual function in > particular contexts is the final determiner of meaning. > > Also, beware of the etymological fallacy: that a word now must convey what > its etymology back then was. So I don't think we need to find any sense of > expansion or width in the sense of breathing. > > > > GEORGE ATHAS > Dean of Research, > Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au) Sydney, Australia
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