What is it about?
Biblical Hebrew and other ancient Semitic languages tended to express abstract ideas and emotions by way of concrete and physical manifestations. Anger, for example, was expressed through such gestures as getting heated up and foaming at the mouth. In the present study I show how the general term for "good" evolved out of the basic sense of "tasty, sweet", not only in Hebrew, where it is well known, but in the Semitic language of ancient Mesopotamia--Akkadian--where it has not been known.
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Why is it important?
This finding is important in confirming the general thesis, that abstracts derive from concretes, in the Semitic languages (as they do in others); and more particularly, in identifying vestiges or nuances of the original meaning of "sweet, tasty" in some usages of the words for "good".
Perspectives
I find it of great interest to trace the semantic development and usages of terms, and this was a fine opportunity to engage in this enterprise. I have done this several times before.
Edward Greenstein
Bar-Ilan University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Out of the Sweet Came Good: A Study in Semitic Etymology, June 2023, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004544840_003.
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