Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew: Based on the Commentaries of Rabbi Samson Raphael...

Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew: Based on the Commentaries of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch | Rabbi Matityahu Clark | Good dictionary to use side by side with a lexicon

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Etymological Dicti...

	Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew: Based on the Commentaries of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch Rabbi Matityahu Clark Feldheim, 2000 - 330 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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This dictionary, based on the commentaries of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, is a monumental work and guide to understanding the Biblical commentary of Rabbi Hirsch. This work analyzes the deep concepts inherent in Hebrew, the Divine language, revealing how every word's root contains connotations essential to a greater understanding of Torah.

Extremely interesting--really 4 and a half stars

It's no Brown-Driver-Briggs, but it does its job. This dictionary treats the Hebrew language as the Holy Tongue, and therefore etymologically treats it in and of itself, and how the precise meaning of every one of these Holy words must be determined in order to truly understand the Bible.
It talks about how words that sound similar can have similar meanings, how they are connected to one another, and how substituting and/or rearranging letters gives rise to new roots.
The dictionary is arranged by roots. According to the dictionary, words cannot have identical roots with different meanings, as they can in the BDB. Underneath the heading of each root is the various meanings of the root, noun and verb. It even considers many words such as "but" and "also" to come from a root, which the BDB does not (only nouns and verbs), I believe. For each meaning it cites a Biblical verse with that word in it. However, the dictionary's most serious shortcoming is that it is not grammatical enough and does not specifically state the different constructions of the verb (However, this can be determined, if one knows Hebrew grammar, by the Biblical quote cited).
It also has internal contradictions, assigning (by accident? I hope so) one word three different roots ("Nabhelah," "we shall confound," is listed under the roots NBL, BLH, and BLL. Brown-Driver-Briggs, among most others, lists it under BLL).
All in all a useful book for determining the exact meaning of a word if one knows Hebrew grammar. Another plus is it is possibly the most interesting dictionary I have. If I were forced to sit and read a dictionary I would choose this one.

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Good dictionary to use side by side with a lexicon

I have found this book to be a very good supplement to use side by side with my Hebrew Lexicon. Where my lexicon points me to a a shoresh I reference this dictionary for further study. This book is perfect for someone who knows Hebrew (for the most part) and is simply trying to supplement their understanding. It is a dictionary that I can actually have fun sitting down and reading through the various shoreshim. It may be a bit rough around the edges in terms of grammar, and the novice in Hebrew may find some elements of it hard to understand. I would recommend this highly for the study of the Tanakh.

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like the French Revolution: seminal, but overdone

Rabbi Shimshon Repahel Hirsch is a giant of Hebrew Bible commentary, and a crucial revolutionary in seeing how Hebrew is uniquely structured along the energy of sound -- not merely similar spelling.

He inspired Edenics ([...]), yet Edenics is far more conservative in selecting which words are engineered sound-alike synonyms and antonyms. While SRH has way too many illogical, unconnected synonyms (which are beyond Grimms Laws/Rashi's Laws), he does not suggest enough profound, scientific antonyms.

For example, SRH does not link NiQaMaH (revenge) with NiK[H]aMaH (consolation). Revenge is the harsher form of consolation.

Years hence, when linguists agree that the Sacred Language of Pre-Hebrew was the premier and once-universal human language, let it be remembered that Edenics could not have been launched without Rabbi S.R. Hirsch.
Isaac Mozeson [...]

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