--- In
cybalist@egroups.com, "Mark Odegard" <markodegard@...> wrote:
> Umm. Izzy. What brand of Rabbinical causuitical mysticism have you
> been educated in?
>
Umm, Mark, why do you ask this question? My last posting before
your question dealt with reversals. I'll try to explain them here.
I believe ancient peoples were less prone to distinguish between
a thing and the name for it. They didn't want a dangerous
creature to appear just because they called/spoke its name...
or an unfortunate event to occur just because they mentioned it.
For example, I think the "first" KoRBan (English corban) was the
victim of a lightning (Hebrew BaRaK) strike. I don't think this
word has anything to do with "drawing near" (Hebrew KaRoV)
except in the song "Nearer my G-d to Thee". :-)
ineffable (in ef'uh buhl) adj.
2. not to be spoken because of its sacredness; unutterable:
the ineffable name of the deity.
[1400-50; late ME < L ineffabilis. See IN -3, EFFABLE]
Ancient Jews did not mention the name of G-d. Today, the
original pronunciation of that name is no longer known.
Other gods have had their names reversed, e.g., Greek
(and Phoenician) kHermes --> Roman Merc(ury).
So, I find two major types of reversals: superstitious
and euphemistic < Gk euphemízein = to use words of good
omen < eúphem(os) = abstaining from offensive words.
When words are "short", as most ancient Hebrew words
were (by English standards), reversing the sounds in
them is not a difficult feat.
In general, the direction of writing is *not* relevant
to this process. However, boustrophedon was convenient
when carving in wood or stone so that words at the end
of a line could wrap-around. This type of writing caused
the literate elite to "see" words in both directions and
may have contributed to a readiness or facility to reverse
the sounds. Reversals by this elite could trickle down
to the rest of the community.
The ancient concept of gematria involved giving a each
word a numeric equivalent equal to the sum of the value
of its letters. Words whose numeric values were equal
were thought to have some significant relationship to
each other ... to be the same in some kabbalistic sense.
Obviously, words whose letters were merely scrambled
or reversed would still have the same value and still
be the "same" in some sense.
If Hebrews borrowed the word sark/shark from the Greeks,
they could avoid saying SHaRK by saying KaRiSH, which is
now the Hebrew word for shark. When the eLePhant came to
Israel as an instrument of war against the Maccabees,
the Hebrews could avoid saying eLePh by saying PiL, which
is now the Hebrew word for elephant.
Likewise, the Semitic word for "making (physical) love"
is aiyin-gimel-vet 3aGaV. The modern Hebrew word for
tomato is 3aGVaniah = love apple, pomme d' amour, etc.
Giving a G (as in Gaza) sound to the aiyin produces GGV.
This becomes KKF if you change the Gs to Ks as in GaMaL
--> CaMeL. Finally, the KKF reverses to FCK.
In other words, the English 4-letter word for making
physical love may be a reversal of this Semitic root. I
don't know when/where the reversal occurred. And I don't
know in which direction it occurred. This type of
word is not so likely to get into the written record ...
especially in religious texts such as the Bible.
BTW, I think the KK in cuckold and "kick [the] bucket"
are both paralalel to the GG in aiyin-gimel-vet, unreversed.
On the anthropomorphic body-part maps of north Africa
and the mid East, I find another reason for reversals:
the unreversed place name has already been used in another
body. I believe this accounts for the reversal of Skt
NaBhiLa = navel --> LeBaNon (because NePaL already existed
in a Buddhist map), and Gk KRaNion - Latin CRaniuM -->
Mo(n)RoCCo (because the uKRaiNe already existed in
an earlier Phoenician map). I don't know why Semitic
SHvK = thigh reverses to KuwaiT, or Semitic DoFeN = side
reverses to NaFuD (in north Arabia).
SaNTir = chin reverses to TuNiS because it is attached
to a reversed cranium and this head is (literally)
looking backwards over its shoulder. The reversal of
KNiSah = "opening, entrance" to SiNai(Khs) = 'snatch'...
and the reversal of (yam) PoS = vulva to (yam) SooF =
reed (sea) ... seem to be euphemistic reversals.
BTW, one of these maps (from the Ukraine to Yemen)
indicates the possibility of extensive contact
between Semitic (Phoenician) and Germanic in/near
Anatolia before the Germani migrated to Europe.
ciao,
Israel Cohen
izzy_cohen@...