Multi-faceted words

We have had a few posts on rare words. Now we really need some posts on words where the stems are common and there may be several different glosses for one stem.

So what are the multi-faceted words that one would meet first in the first few chapters of Genesis?  Some words are frequent but they designate one or two things that are clearly related. So they are not multi-faceted. One such is אב father. Mostly I have used father. Where a more inclusive word was appropriate, I have used ancestor, parent, or forebear. The Hebrew stem is always the same for all these and no other stem is ever rendered by these words (according to the rules I have followed). This is a common stem, but not a very complex one.

Another example is אדם Adam. Under this stem we have several related glosses as used in Genesis: ground, earthling, Adam, human, humanity, ruddy stuff, humus, ruddy. These all reflect the ruddy stuff of the ground. Outside of Genesis, there are several additional glosses: dyed red, debris from the ground, sard (a true homonym), agriculture, dust-bowl.

I may be guilty of too much freedom. I started out and continued with strict concordance rules, only breaking them when there was good literary rationale. I have not broken them here because I allow myself multiple glosses for one stem as long as I don't use them for another stem without recording and justifying the exception. As it happens, I have used humus exactly 8 times but this count is accidental. I could not justify my choices mathematically. As I reread these opening passages of Genesis, I think I wanted to render the references of this stem with as much variation as I could muster to avoid what I consider is an error of judgment for a story of this nature, considering Adam as a specific humanoid mammal and Eve as a derivative humanoid mammal. That might explain my odd use of the definite article with a proper name, and my variations on human, humanity, earthling, Adam, ground, and the one from the humus in Gen 4:1.

In that verse, I have a similar problem with wife for אשׁה. I wonder if I should ever have used the gloss wife. It is always the same stem as woman, (as is mate in Gen 7:2).

Genesis 4		Fn		Min	Max	Syll
וְהָ֣אָדָ֔ם יָדַ֖ע אֶת־חַוָּ֣ה אִשְׁתּ֑וֹ וַתַּ֙הַר֙ וַתֵּ֣לֶד אֶת־קַ֔יִן וַתֹּ֕אמֶר קָנִ֥יתִי אִ֖ישׁ אֶת־יְהוָֽה	1		And the one from the humus knew Eve his wife, and she became big and she gave birth to Cain, and she said, I have acquired someone with Yahweh.	3e	4B	11 18
Isaiah 6		Fn		Min	Max	Syll
וָאֹמַ֕ר עַד־מָתַ֖י אֲדֹנָ֑י וַיֹּ֡אמֶר עַ֣ד אֲשֶׁר֩ אִם־שָׁא֨וּ עָרִ֜ים מֵאֵ֣ין יוֹשֵׁ֗ב וּבָתִּים֙ מֵאֵ֣ין אָדָ֔ם וְהָאֲדָמָ֖ה תִּשָּׁאֶ֥ה שְׁמָמָֽה	11		And I said, How long, my Lord? And he said, Until that the noisy cities are without inhabitant, and houses without humanity, and the humus is noised as desolate,	3e	4B	9 33
Jeremiah 16		Fn		Min	Max	Syll
הֲיַעֲשֶׂה־לּ֥וֹ אָדָ֖ם אֱלֹהִ֑ים וְהֵ֖מָּה לֹ֥א אֱלֹהִֽים	20		Will humus make for itself gods? But they are not gods.	3e	4A	10 7
Joel 2		Fn		Min	Max	Syll
אַל־תִּֽירְאִ֖י אֲדָמָ֑ה גִּ֣ילִי וּשְׂמָ֔חִי כִּֽי־הִגְדִּ֥יל יְהוָ֖ה לַעֲשֽׂוֹת	21		Do not fear, O humus. Rejoice and be glad, for exaggerated are the deeds of Yahweh.	3e	4B	6 13
Zechariah 13		Fn		Min	Max	Syll
וְאָמַ֕ר לֹ֥א נָבִ֖יא אָנֹ֑כִי אִישׁ־עֹבֵ֤ד אֲדָמָה֙ אָנֹ֔כִי כִּ֥י אָדָ֖ם הִקְנַ֥נִי מִנְּעוּרָֽי	5		And he will say, Not a prophet am I. A person, a servant of the humus, am I, for humanity acquired me from my youth.	3e	4C	9 18
Psalms 146		Fn		Min	Max	Syll
תֵּצֵ֣א ר֭וּחוֹ יָשֻׁ֣ב לְאַדְמָת֑וֹ בַּיּ֥וֹם הַ֝ה֗וּא אָבְד֥וּ עֶשְׁתֹּנֹתָֽיו	4		Its spirit goes forth. It returns to its humus. In that day its gleams perish.	3e	4B	10 10
Job 25		Fn		Min	Max	Syll
אַ֭ף כִּֽי־אֱנ֣וֹשׁ רִמָּ֑ה וּבֶן־אָ֝דָ֗ם תּוֹלֵעָֽה פ	6	g	Indeed, for a mortal maggot, or a child of humus... is a worm... P	3e	4B	5 8
Lamentations 3		Fn		Min	Max	Syll
מַה־יִּתְאוֹנֵן֙ אָדָ֣ם חָ֔י גֶּ֖בֶר עַל־חֲטָאָֽיו ס	39		May living humus cavil? a valiant one about its sin? S	3e	4B	14

The other glosses I used rarely: dust-bowls in Psalms 49:12, dyed red for the building of the dwelling (Exodus). Ruddy for a diseased state in Leviticus 13 and a few other places. Debris from the ground is used for the representation of grief e.g. at the loss of the ark of the covenant. Ground is very frequent (just under 25%) as a gloss for אדם. Although I have used earthling (roughly 12%) for אדם, I never use earth for this word. Reserved for this is the ambiguous stem, ארץ which is earth or land depending on the context, with rare exceptions (earthward, earthbound).

More troublesome examples to come.