1 SHAMASH.ORG /usr/www/wwwhc/listserv/archives/heblang January 2000
2 61 10_Re: Midbar16_Kenneth G Miller23_kennethgmiller@juno.com29_Wed, 12 Jan 2000 01:33:31 EST642_- <<< Anyone with a suggestion as to the etymology of the word Midbar? Someone asked me (somewhat homiletically) about a relationship with the root D*B*R, and, although instinctively it didn't ring true, I couldn't cite support. >>><br><br>SHORT ANSWER: Yes, see Hirsch on Shemot 3:1<br><br>LONG ANSWER:<br><br>Oh, boy! My first chance to use the new "Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew based on the Commentaries of Samson Raphael Hirsch" by Matityahu Clark, just published by Feldheim a few weeks ago. This volume collects the various interpretations of every shoresh in Rav Hirsch's writings, and arranges them alphabetically. [...]
64 29 10_Re: Midbar13_Monica Devens17_mdevens@yahoo.com37_Wed, 12 Jan 2000 09:42:08 -0800 (PST)374_us-ascii I don't know that anyone has "officially" connected these two, but note that in Ethiopic /dabr/ means "mountain, region where there is a monastery." This has been connected to other Semitic roots for "field, pasture," and I wonder whether "desert" could be a specialized type of same. Note, furthermore, that in Mandaic /dibra/ is "wilderness, desert, field." [...]
94 37 6_Midbar14_Russell Hendel22_rhendel@mcs.drexel.edu37_Wed, 12 Jan 2000 23:50:32 -0500 (EST)353_- <br><br>To amplify on what Rav Hirsch said note two things<br><br><br><br>Approach 1) Since DVR can denote a collection of --bees --wood in a rafter --words in a speech it can also denote ---a collectoin of animals in the wilderness<br><br><br><br>Approach 2)MIDBAR could come from DVR=Pestilence because it is the place which causes pestilence. [...]