In order to get across some of the principles I’ve been learning, so you get comfortable with them as you read God’s Word, we are going to play with some words in our everyday lives.
First, a quick reminder that there is meaning in names. And there is a power in naming. Is it that what something is called is what it becomes? Or is it that whatever is something’s nature is what we will call it? Or is it both? Remember name changes in Scripture (for two examples, Abraham and Sarah). Remember the example given before of Isaac, son of Abraham and Sarah, the name of whom means “to laugh,” which is noted to come from a situation leading to his birth, when Sarah “laughed,” but that root also comes into play several times later in his life. Is this just a cute mechanism for telling a story, or is there some actual power in calling out names? Or is it, typically Hebrew, both?
I would like to go through names of states in the United States and see what insights we might be able to gain from the exercise. I have been blessed to have traveled to every state in our union. No promises that we will hit each person’s state, but we will go through some. If you have some experience from being in a particular state, think of what that experience was and how it might, in some way, relate to its name. And at some point, obviously, we will look at some places in Scripture. Today, a look at one state:
First, for the “visual learner,” you likely recognize the state, even without its name being written. But, since we are looking at words, and in particular, names, we will use the name:
And here, an artist has used a couple of characteristics of the state to project something of its character. But, if you’ve lived or worked in the state, or had your own experiences in the state, for travel or whatever, there have been some impressions formed. Think about your impressions as I go through the Hebrew roots of this name.
First, know that there are over four thousand “conjoined words” in the Hebrew part of the Bible. Many more are also in the Greek, but that’s not our focus. Most of what we look at will he conjoined words, that is, formed by combining two or more roots. And, again, recall that vowels were an add-on, hundreds to thousands of years after the Word was written. We are only looking at our twenty-two consonants in the three-letter roots.
So, we have Arizona•••
And, since we are purposely beginning with a simpler example, we will look at it like this;
Recall the written language was built upon sound, as it began first verbally, before symbols came to represent the sounds, thus we use our English pronunciations and look for the Hebrew pronunciation that fits. So••• this is where the phonetic cognates come into play, and the “weak letter” drops, substitutions, etc. which are all explained in the Appendices of Clark/Hirsch.
For Ari, we would be looking at, basically two possible roots, but including their variants and their cognates (and their variants’ cognates, if you are really digging deeply and need to resolve some question in your mind) to try to understand what the meaning is. The roots are ארה and ערה.
Another approach is to look first to see if there is a Scriptural word Ari, and there is a noun, most often translated as “lion,” and use Strong’s suggested root as its basis (most often accurate but not always), and go from that direction. Either way, we will end at the same destination because of the phonetic cognates schema. We will use the second method, and you will see how we get to all the potentially-related words.
We will center our Map at ארה:
Realize that each of these roots will have one or many verses listed in the Etymological Dictionary that explains the usage in more depth. Those are the actual “ witnesses.” These words of meaning are summaries of the usages in those verses, both for the cognates and the variants. There are thirty-five roots listed here. Just by using these “summary words,” and any knowledge from your experience with the state of Arizona, are there any connections that come to mind (recall, Scriptural usage might have to do with the original naming of the state (its “birth”), something in its history or present, or could even be predictive of a future role. What are things unique to Arizona?
And we have not even gotten to the second half of the name. Since the two halves are linked together as one, it may possibly help focus a bit more.
- p.16 ארה contain; take and hold
GV p.17 ארר isolate [and bring ruin; weaken internally]; p.16 ארה contain [take and hold]; p.6 אור light [illuminate]; p.99 יאר collect [water]; p.146 נאר cast off contemptuously - CM ארר isolate (A54); ארה absorb/expel (A51); אור expose/conceal (A8); יארextend/contain (C16); נאר discharge smoothly/violently (D61)
- p.192 ערה bare; make sensitive; absorb impressions
GV p.193 ערר isolate; p.192 ערה bare [make sensitive; absorb impressions]; p.182 עורawaken [absorb external impulse]; p.107 יער collect [liquids; drench]; p.159 נער shake off [discard] - CM ערר isolate (A54); ערה absorb/expel (A51); עור expose/conceal (A8); יערextend/contain (C16); נער discharge smoothly/violently (D61)
For •zona, our most likely candidate would be p.68 זנה to defect; be unfaithful
We will center our map at זנה.
This is obviously a much simpler map, but again, each variant or cognate would have referent verses in EDBH that can better define meaning.
Again, the idea would be to put together these summary ideas from the two words as conjoined, to see whether there is a picture that relates to your experience with this state. If, as we might hypothesize, Hebrew is God’s language, it should be able to speak to each of us in our own lives. I would gladly hear your comments, but it is not for me, but for your eyes perhaps to be opened. We will do more of these, Lord willing. And if this is all just fantasy, in your mind, it’s OK since it is simply a learning exercise so you are familiar with the tools. Why not have a little fun while learning? I am not going to color your thoughts with the connections I made from my Arizona experiences••• I want you to think about your own, whether very superficial or much more involved. And rest assured, there is no intent to bring judgment. It is to get you to open up your mind to how God’s language works.
- GV p.65/68 זנן be faithless (only in GV, not separate listing); p.68 זנה defect [be unfaithful]; p.65 זון sustain [satisfy needs]; b]
- CM (זנן no cognates); זנה distance (E26); זון hide/reveal (E12); יזן strengthen/weaken (C50)
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