[Lexicog] Almost

[Hayim Sheynin]

In Hebrew (Biblical, Dead Sea Scrolls, Mishnaic, medieval and modern)
the concepts 'almost' and 'nearly' are expressed with an adverb 'kim&aT'
or combination 'kim&aT we-'

Thus 'kim&aT sheva&' - almost seven
'kim&aT we-hig&ati'  - I have almost arrived
'kim&aT we-fisfasti' - I have almost missed

The adverb 'kim&aT' is formed from two elements: the particle ke- (e in
this case represents shwa; meaning of ke- 'approximately, like') + me&aT
(little, few); we- is conjunction (and)

& - guttural pharyngeal ayin
T - emphatic t

Idioms: 'kim&aT rega&' - a bref moment (Isaiah 26:20; Ezra 9:8)
Combination 'kim&aT she-' - scarcely that (Song of Songs 3:4)

Hayim Y. Sheynin
Gratz College


-----Original Message-----
From: John Roberts [mailto:dr_john_roberts at sil.org]
Sent: Friday, August 06, 2004 12:36 PM
To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Lexicog] Almost

Ron

In Persian 'almost/nearly' is most commonly expressed either by *nazdik*
'near, nearly* or *tagriban* 'almost, nearly, approximately'. The most
commonly occurring form in the Persian texts I have is *nazdik*. This
may be
because *nazdik* is the Persian word and *tagriban* is an Arabic
borrowing
derived from *tagrib* 'approximation'. It is interesting, therefore,
that in
all the English-Persian dictionaries I have *almost* is always glossed
as
'tagriban'. I believe that *tagriban* and *nazdik* have a similar range
of
usage in Persian as *almost* has in English, but you would have to check
this with a native speaker. But Persian is Indo-European, so this is
what
you might expect.

John Roberts






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