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Gesenius
Wilhelm Gesenius, 1786-1842, was a German Orientalist and one of the greatest Hebrew and biblical scholars. He is widely remembered for his books, Hebrew Grammar, and A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament.
The following is an excerpt from Hebrew Grammar
by Wilhelm Gesenius, Oxford University Press, Amen House, London; 2nd English Edition 1910; page 100. (Notes italicized and in brackets are our commentary)
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The law of the Triliteral stem [a three letter root word] is so strictly observed in the formation of verbs and nouns in Hebrew (and in the Semitic languages generally), that the language has sometimes adopted artificial methods to preserve at least an appearance of the triliteralism in monosyllabic stems, e.g. שבת for the inf. constr. of verbs פ''ו; cf. §69b. Conversely such nouns, as אב father, אם mother, אח brother, which were formerly all regarded as original monosyllabic forms (nomina primitiva), may, in some cases at least, have arisen from mutilation of a triliteral stem.
On the other hand, a large number of triliteral stems really point to a biliteral base, which may be properly called a root (radix primaria, bilitteralis) [What we have chosen to call a Parent Root], since it forms the starting-point for several triliteral modifications of the same fundamental idea. Though in themselves unpronounceable, these roots are usually pronounced with "a" between the two consonants, and are represented in writing by the sign a, e.g. aכר as the root of כרר, כרה, כור, אכר. The reduction of a stem to the underlying root may generally be accomplished with certainty when the stem exhibits one weak consonant [The four Hebrew letters, aleph, hey, vav and yud, which at one time served as vowels as well as consonants.] with two strong ones [The remainder of the Hebrew alphabet.], or when the second and third consonants are identical [This root we have chosen to call the Child Root]. Thus e.g. the stems דכה, דוך, דכא, דכך may all be traced to the idea of striking, breaking, and the root common to them all is evidently the two strong consonants דך (dakh). Very frequently, however, the development of the root into a stem is effected by the addition of a strong consonant, especially, it seems, a sibilant, liquid or guttural [This root we have chosen to call Adopted Roots].
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Hirsch
The following excerpts are from the Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew, Matityahu Clark, Feldheim Publishers, Jerusalem, New York, 1999. A commentary on Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch's, 1808-1888, commentaries on Biblical Hebrew. Words in brackets are my editorial comments.
"The Hebrew language to Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch is God's language and its nuances of meaning to the very heart of understanding Torah and Mitzvot. Since God's Torah must be studied in order to understand the details and minutiae of Mitzvot, the language in which God gave that Torah must first be analyzed and fully understood. Hirsch reasoned that there must also be an internal integrity and wholeness to the language of the Torah. Furthermore, a Divine language a לשון קודש [lashon qodesh], cannot be haphazard or inconsistent but, almost by definition, must be systematic, orderly, and logical."
--Rabbi Matityahu Clark; Page x.
The second major analytical tool in the Hirsch system we will call Gradational Variants. This involves five special consonants: י ,ו, א, נ, and ה. These consonants play a special role with respect to roots whose third consonant is identical with the second. Such roots are known as כפולים / ע"ע.
One of these special consonants sometimes takes the place of a consonant in an ע"ע root. The new root form does not change the basic meaning of the original root, but adds some nuances of meaning.
Examples of Gradational Variants:
The basic כפולים root of שרר (left-point) means "unlimited power".
When a ה substitutes for the final ר, a new root שרה , which means "an official with effective but indirect control", is created. When a ו substitutes for the middle ר of שרר, a new root is created: שרר, which means "supervising or managing but not ruling" (Gn 17:15, Nm 16:13).
Basic Root: צרר means "forcing, constraining, oppressing" (Dt 29:19).
Gradational Variants.צור means "fencing or enclosing " (Dt 32:4); יצר means "forming or creating" (Gn 2:19). נצר means guarding or protecting" (Ps 2:6).
Basic Root: רדד means "flattening down or submitting totally" (Ps 144:2).
Gradational Variants: רדה means "ruling over or having dominion over" (Ps 72:8); רוד means"humbling" (Ps 55:3); ירד means "going down" (Gn 27:40).
Basic Root: קמם means "standing erect and upright" (Lv 26:13).
Gradational Variants: קום means "rising to do something" (Ps 7:7); נקם means "avenging, righting a wrong" (Gn 4:15).
Basic Root: חלל means "profaning, acting against something" (Ps 77:11).
Gradational Variants: חלה means "weakening" (Gn 48:1); חלא means "being sick" (Dt 29:21); חול means "trembling and fearing" (Ex 15:14); חיל means "being powerful and wealthy" (Ex 18:21); יחל means "hoping and expecting" (Ps 71:14).
Each of the word families created by the above formula is inter-related. Their respective meanings show degrees of intensity or similar activity in other spheres. Hirsch claims that in many cases the ע"ו root (טוב) and the פ"י root (יטב) have identical meanings (Gn 11:6, Ps 16:5, 35:1). Other forms that interchange are the ל"ה root (קרה) and the ל"א root (קרא) (Gn 20:6, Ps 14:3, 31:3).
-- Rabbi Matityahu Clark, page 295.
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Horowitz
The following excerpt is from chapter 16 of the book How the Hebrew Language Grew, Edward Horowitz, KTAV, Brooklyn, New York, 1960.
How Two Letters Become Three
ROOTS WERE PROBABLY,
ORIGINALLY TWO LETTERED
...Scholars are fairly convinced that back of these three lettered roots lie old primitive two-lettered syllables. These two-lettered syllables represent some simple primitive action or thing. It does seem quite clear that there existed a bi-literal or two-letter base for many, if not most, of our three lettered roots. However, this can never be proven absolutely in all finality because the original Semitic language is lost beyond all recovery...
TWO LETTERED ROOTS
BECOME THREE LETTERED
The small number of two-lettered syllables began to be highly inadequate. In order to obtain additional words they would add a third letter to the primitive two-lettered root, by this means creating new words. This new word would generally have a sharper, more specialized sense that the primitive root. We are not sure exactly how this process was carried on, because it took place so very long ago in prehistoric times.
All this sounds like mere words; let us now get down to examples and to making ourselves very clear.
A simple illustration of the transformation from two to three-lettered roots is to be found in the group of words that have גז as the first two letters. All of this group had the fundamental meaning of cutting with, of course, different shades of meaning. It is easy to see clearly how they are related, and in all likelihood, they were developed from the primitive two-lettered root, גז.
Here is the list:
| גוּז | | cut |
| גזר | | cut, also - with metathesis גרז the root of גרזן axe |
| גזע | | cut |
| גזז | | to shear (sheep) |
| גזה | | cut |
| גזם | | a locust, one who eats the produce and thus effectively cuts it from the field. |
| גזל | | rob, to violently tear something away from somebody. |
Each of the words in turn gave rise to many other words. For example from גזר cut we have מגזרה an ax, גזרה a decree. From גזע we have גזע the stock of a tree; what's left after all the branches have been cut off. From גזז shear, we have גזה sheared wool. גזה is the root of גזית which means “hewn stones”. From גזל we have גזלה - robbery.
Do not be surprised if so many of these comparatively few two-lettered roots mean to cut, to split, to slit, or slice. AFTER ALL, EVERYTHING THAT PRIMITIVE MAN DID IN THE WAY OF MAKING A LIVING FOR HIMSELF AND HIS FAMILY IN SOME WAY OR OTHER INVOLVED A CUTTING ACTION, whether it was wounding animals, felling trees, digging into the earth to plow or to find water, fighting his enemies, or dividing the prey that he brought home. The word “cut” in the Kaufman “English-Hebrew Dictionary” has over a hundred Hebrew translations, and actually there are even more...
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