Re: verbs = nouns? (in Hebrew)

On 9 Jan, Steg wrote:

>Wow, i never heard of ShTtR being used as a verb at all. If i heard it i
>would assume it meant something to do with "policing" and not
>punishment..
    I guess that in ancient times, policemen weren't expected to be
social-workers, psychologists, negotiators, investigators, etc. as they are
today.
BTW, from the same root (shin-tet-resh) comes the word "mishtar"
which is less "govenment",  than "a leadership which enforces its rules".
("govenment", /memSala/, comes from a different root.)


>/megalem/.... now *that's* a useful verb.  I think i've been using
>/mesaxek/ all this time :-) .
Same general idea, different nuances.
/mesaxek/ literally means "he plays" (It's also used when referring
to what kids [or kids-at-heart  ;-)  ] do.)  In a theatrical context it
means acting
in general. The word for "actor" is /saxkan/ and what he does on stage
_is_  /mesaxek/.

/megalem/ is more like "playing the part of". The general idea seems to be
that the actor's personality is a "shapeless mass" and thus he is able to
 mold himself (morph? :-)  ) into being any part he is playing. Perhaps a
better translation of /megalem/ would be "he portrays".

>Although would it matter (at least etymologically) that /kohen/ is
>spelled without a vav?  And by /golem/ do you mean like The Golem,
>vav-less and with a segol, or is it actually the same pattern as /Somer/,
>etc.?
Vav-less and with a segol. By "the same pattern" I was referring to how the
words  _sounded_  in Israeli pronounciation, trying to stay with the
   _o_e_  vowel pattern. I wasn't referring to the written forms or the
historical
developments they reflect.

>PS- i don't remember if you responded to it... did you see a few months
>(or maybe less) ago when i mentioned that i had found a book on
>children's acquisition of Hebrew at my campus bookstore's random book
>sale?  it talked about the *_`alo_ for _alav_ issue, among other things.
    Sorry, Steg. I don't recall that post, but it does sound interesting.
 Are you referring here to the suffix for "his, plural"?  If so, perhaps the
book
 has information which might be of use to me: Among the children
whose speech I treat, there are some who consistantly
pronounce -alav as /alo/.
    Could you possibly provide me with the name of the book and the author?
Maybe I can get hold of a copy over here. Thanks.

Dan Sulani
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likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a.

A word is an awesome thing.