Re: New member

    First, Bart and Adam, welcome to the list from another conlanger
on the other end of the age spectrum! (I last saw 15 almost
4 decades ago!  And what a ride it's been! ;-)  )

    On 29 May, Nik Taylor wrote:
>Eric Christopherson wrote:
>> > It took me a few minutes to get that "red dirt" reference.  :-)
>>
>> I still don't get it.
>
>The name "Adam" is from Hebrew for something like "Man of red dirt"

    AFAIK, the name "Adam" is indeed from Hebrew. However,
the Bible doesn't give a derivation for the term. For all that _is_
written there about /adam/ (=man) being taken from the /adama/ (=earth),
no connection is made in the text. (At least not in the Hebrew text;
I just reread it twice to make sure.) The color of the earth is also not
specified. (and AFAIK, in Israeli Hebrew at least, /adama/ does not, by
itself,
indicate any specific default color of earth. If you want to specify red or
black
or brown or some other color, you must add the appropriate color term.)
    The only connection I can see is that they both
seem to be connected to a root:  aleph-dalet-mem.
    Thus, "Adam", the name, /adam/ meaning "man", /adama/,
meaning "earth"; and also /adom/, meaning "red", /dam/ (by
dropping the initial aleph) meaning "blood" (which is red), /odem/
meaning "red makeup", and so forth.
    My dictionary, however, is not certain that /adama/ and /adom/
derive from the same source.
    Any Semiticists on the list care to help out?


Dan Sulani

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likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a.

A word is an awesome thing.

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