1 SHAMASH.ORG /usr/www/wwwhc/listserv/archives/heblang February 2000
2 70 65_RE: BIN (may) Never mean BEN! Another Approach --> BiNaH in Engli0_15_rturkel@cas.org37_Thu, 17 Feb 2000 16:01:51 -0500 (EST)618_- With all due respect, in the interest of linguistics and sanity I must respond to "Cohen, Izzy" <Izzy_Cohen@bmc.com>, who posted:<br><br>>The English idioms "know beans about" and "spill the beans" >are probably based on Hebrew BiNaH = understanding.<br><br>Yeah - and I'm Joe Stalin! :-)<br><br>You know, if you start out with any premise, even as outlandish a one as the idea that English is derived directly from Hebrew, you can always find enough chance examples (e.g., "six" = "shesh") and stretched meanings (like those so generously provided below by Izzy) to "prove" it. However, this idea has no basis [...]
73 28 65_Re: BIN (may) Never mean BEN! Another Approach --> BiNaH in Engli7_Sefarad21_sefarad@geocities.com31_Thu, 17 Feb 2000 23:22:10 -0500561_US-ASCII Some time ago (around 1989) while I was at the Hebrew University, someone (an Israeli) was selling a book about the Hebrew origin of the English language. His argument was not that English has its roots in Hebrew but almost every modern language. Of course, as much as I enjoy learning Hebrew, I agree with Mr. Turkel. You can play with almost any language and come up with proposed mother tongue for it. I do admit that some times I am curious to know if some endings (suffixes) in European languages may have their root in Hebrew or Aramaic (by [...]