Re: TECH: Official languages of the list

On Aug 19, 2004, at 11:38 AM, Roger Mills wrote:
> Or "concerning" from a verb _kena [k@'na]_ whose basic meaning is 'hit,
> struck by, affected by'. Coincidentally, Kash _kena ['kena]_ means the
> same, but I don't use it as much as BI uses their kena.
> Yet another Indonesian oddity, later on in the post:  diputuskan '(it)
> was
> decided'-- di- passive; putus 'cut off' -kan object focus, sort-of.
> Perhaps
> a loan-translation of "decide" which also seems to contain a root
> -cide meaning 'cut'
Hebrew uses both of these, sort of:

"relevant" = _nogeia`_, lit. 'touching' (sometimes used for 'smiting'
in Biblical Hebrew)

"decide [a law], enact [a law]" = _pasaq_, lit. 'stop, end' / _gazar_
lit. 'slice, cut off'.  I think those two verbs are mostly specialized
for this now, but in the Gaonic period (c.400-1000 CE) they used to use
the verb _hhatakh_, the common word for 'cut up' for enacting law.


-Stephen (Steg)
  "this early in the morning, margaret was in a daze - so with her
uncle's urn a bit too close to the coffeemaker, she literally had a cup
of joe."
      ~ 'minimum wage' by jared hindman