On the Use of Etymology in Determining the Meaning of Ancient Hebrew Words

Why do many Hebraists continue to appeal to etymology and to evidence from cognate languages to determine and delimit the meaning of words in ancient Hebrew? Why not stick to usage and be done with it?

That’s not a hard question to answer. It’s because the usage data at our disposal is often not sufficient to determine the semantic range of a particular lexeme, and comparison with the usage data of etymologically related vocabulary in the selfsame language, and with usage data of equivalent vocabulary items in cognate languages, yields insights one could not obtain by sticking to mono-lingual, mono-period analysis. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, you do your research with the data you have, not the data you wished you had.

To be sure, the trick is to use what you have wisely and correctly. Furthermore, as Rummy demonstrated, that often doesn’t happen. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I enjoy words. That’s one reason I love languages. In a rip-roaring discussion over at Faith & Theology, in which a medievalist named Shane longs for the day in which Jean Bethke Elshtain (one of my favorite writers) will “coldcock” Stanley Hauerwas (another of my favorite writers, but not on the topics he and Elshtain have disagreed on so publicly these last few years), I thought to myself, “Is this word conjuring up in my mind what it is supposed to conjure up?” Based on prior usage, I mean.

According to WordReference, ‘coldcock’ means ‘knock’ someone ‘down with force,’ ‘deck’ someone. According to AHD, on the other hand, it means ‘knock’ someone ‘unconscious.’ That sounds like etymological reasoning to me. It may even be correct, in the sense of approximating the sense ‘coldcock’ has in (some) usage. ‘Cold’ and ‘unconscious,’ after all, are synonyms.

If you go all the way back to 1575, as is done here, the result appears, at least at first glance, to confuse the issue further. We are taken back to the cock, or hammer, of a firearm, or at least to the act of cocking a weapon.

This particular explanation sounds authentic:

To knock unconcious with a weapon, a blow of the fist or an arm-grip around the neck. "I got a bum rap (unjust charge) for cold-cocking some ghee with the mugg (arm-lock) and rolling (robbing) him." - American Underworld Dictionary – 1950

It is thus possible, though far from certain, that the verb originates as an expression used to denote hitting someone with a gun whose cock, or hammer, is cold – that is, attacking someone with a weapon without actually firing it. I’m actually not convinced. In any case, it’s clear that the verb ‘coldcock’ is used more broadly, without reference to or awareness, necessarily, of putative and/or folk etymologies.

It is often so with language. With ancient Hebrew no less.

For example, the fact that ברא is used in Phoenician as a nomen professionis for a kind of artisan is an interesting fact, and worth mentioning in relation to ברא in ancient Hebrew (defined in terms of (1) יצר ‘form, shape’ and (2) עשה ‘make’ by Yehoshua Blau and Shmuel A. Loewenshtam in DBH - correctly, in my view). Still, it would not be surprising if ברא in ancient Hebrew were used in a broader sense and/or with specialized meanings at variance with the attested semantic range it has in Phoenician. In fact, it should be expected that such was the case.

Those of you who know who “Coldcock Jones and the S-Hawks’ are, not to mention other usages of the term in question, keep that information to yourselves. This site is kiddie-rated (usually).

Bibliography

Menachem Zevi Kaddari, A Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (Alef-Taw). [DBH] [The letters Alef-Zayin were written by Shmuel A. Loewenshtam and Yehoshua Blau] Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 2007.

Comments

[Bob MacDonald]

I wrote a little on that word 'deck' some time ago here - the issue was a certain hymn book - where 'Deck thyself my soul with gladness' had become 'Deck yourself'.

[JohnFH]

Hi Bob,

I really enjoyed reading your gracious but firm take on the reworded hymn.

[Duane]

John,

It's really hard to say much about the semantic range of ברא in Phoenician. The only example I know of is in CIS 347; are there other examples? Based on the limited evidence, you are surely correct that the semantic range of ברא in Hebrew is broader than what we can glean of the semantic range of ברא in Phoenician. This is particularly true if the Phoenician nomen professionis is also a terminus technicus, as many are. In which case, it would likely have an extremely narrow range indeed. But with more data, it might turn out that the Phoenician and the Hebrew were only different, each having an equally broad semantic range with, perhaps, somewhat differing loci.

[JohnFH]

As far as I know, Duane, we only have that one occurrence, outside of PNs. How often this is the case! To return to the metaphor I used in the post: if that is the case, we shouldn't go to war at all.

Well, that doesn't seem to be an option. It also pays to see what the first translators of the Bible did in their work. It is both a humbling (because they knew so much) and a comforting (because they bungled quite a bit) experience to examine translation equivalents in the Greek versions, the Syriac, the Aramaic, and the Vulgate.

[Duane]

I asked because I too have an idea of what ברא in Genesis 1:1 might mean or rather what it's etymology might be, but I have so little evidence that I have never spoken it out loud to anyone and I don't plan to say it here. Well, I did hint at it once. But even there, I didn't totally disclose my wild speculation. At that time, I didn't know of any Phoenician examples. Now that I do, it doesn't help me at all. It doesn't actually hurt either but it might. For that reason, I must continue to bow to something in the neighborhood of the consensus view. I am in no position to go to war. I am without an army of any kind on this battle field.

[JohnFH]

Your proposed Akkadian cognate may or may not have a historical basis, but in any case, the meaning of Akkadian baru is not appropriate to bara in Hebrew, as you yourself seem to recognize.

[Joel L. Watts]

John, is Akkadian useful in determining the Hebrew usage?

[JohnFH]

Hi Joel,

yes, sometimes Akkadian cognates, and usage data peculiar to them, tip the scales a bit in favor of a particular construal of a Hebrew word in context. For example, you can learn a lot about howt brit 'covenant' and shevu'a 'oath' were understood by looking at how the Akkadian terms biri, birit, mamit birini 'our mutual oath, tamu, etc. were used.

On the other hand, sometimes the information is interesting but no longer relevant. For example, the word in Hebrew for both 'palace' and 'temple' is hekal, which goes back to Akkadian ekallu = Sumerian E.GAL. which means, etymologically, 'big house.' Very cool, but few if any Israelites knew that, and it would not have influenced how they used the Hebrew vocable.

[Joel L. Watts]

John, if you will allow me one follow-up. What do you think of Hillers relation of the Akkadian Puhadu to the Hebrew pahad in Genesis 31.42?