Words of the Month (August 2022)

My words for this month are Hebrew and English.

1. Midrash (מִדְרָשׁ)-this Hebrew term occurs twice in the Tanakh, within the same book (2 Chronicles 13:22; 24:27). Its senses include exposition, exegesis, interpretation, and explanation: the ancient Jewish rabbis developed a form of literature known as the midrashim. In Judaism, the word can denote, "any of the rabbinical commentaries and explanatory notes on the Scriptures, written between the beginning of the Exile and c. a. d. 1200."

See https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/midrash

2. Syntagmatic-When structuralism deals with language, it proposes that language is a system wherein words internally relate to one another. According to this school of thought, words may be either paradigmatic or syntagmatic. The latter type of relation could be illustrated with the use of quart or pint and a liquid like milk or beer: "quart" and "pint" are the syntagma and "beer" is the word to which they bear a relation. Other examples are "Son/son" used in relation to God or "kingdom."

American Heritage Dictionary, Fifth Edition: [syntagmatic] adjective Of or relating to the relationship between linguistic units in a construction or sequence, as between the (n) and adjacent sounds in not, ant, and ton. The identity of a linguistic unit within a language is described by a combination of its syntagmatic and its paradigmatic relations.

Dictionary.com: adjective Linguistics.

pertaining to a relationship among linguistic elements that occur sequentially in the chain of speech or writing, as the relationship between the sun and is shining or the and sun in the sentence The sun is shining.

See also Anthony C. Thiselton, Hermeneutics: An Introduction.