Re: Hebrew and Greek as languages  From: CWestf5155 ( Date: Fri
Apr 10 1998 - 15:16:37 EDT  Dear Eric,  In a message dated
98-04-10 11:12:02 EDT, you write:  > Hebrew is > seen. Hebrews
thought of > words as being "holy" and not to be tampered with
flippantly. Thus, > creative "shifts" were > this was not so
hard) > meant.  This neither fits the evidence we have of the
development of the Hebrew language, nor does it fit the nature
of language in general.  No language is static, and with the
best will on earth, no culture could keep it static. For
instance, I find my children are constantly coining and using
both new words and new word associations. Some of these changes
become a part of the traditional lexis over time (I'm amazed at
how long 'cool' has lasted--I think that it has almost made it
out of the slang category). I suppose that it is possible that a
culture could exist that punished the natural evolution of
language, but that is a subject for a fiction writer.  As far as
Hebrew is concerned, one woul