The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the BibleTHE HEBREW ROOT SYSTEM
PARENTROOTS..........................................................................................................
When two pictographs are put together, a Parent Root word is formed. When the F (B,
a house) is combined with the R (N, a seed which continues the next generation) the
Parent Root RF (pronounced ben) is formed. The two letters of this root have the
combined meaning of "the house of seeds" or "the seeds that continue the
house/family". This word is translated simply as "son".
These parent roots are often used in the Biblical text as words themselves. While these
words are usually specific in nature, their original meaning was very broad. The
Hebrew word RF means "son", the more original broad meaning of the parent root RF
is to build (a house or family). This can be seen in the various other derivatives of the
Parent Root having the meanings of build, house, bricks and children.
CHILD ROOTS.............................................................................................................
Formed out of the Parent Roots are thirteen different Child Roots. The first is formed
by doubling the last letter of the Parent Root. Hebrew verbs require a three consonant
root in order to be conjugated. Therefore, the second consonant in the Parent Root is
duplicated to turn the two consonant Parent Root into a three consonant child root. The
meaning of this derivative from the Parent Root is usually identical in meaning to the
original Parent Root.
The other twelve Child roots are formed by placing a vowel within the Parent Root. Of
the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, four double as consonants and vowels.
These are the E (A), I (H, E), J (W, O and U) and M (Y, I).
A Child Root is formed by adding one of the consonant/vowels as a prefix (in front), a
suffix (at the end) or an infix (in the middle) to the Parent Root. All of the Child Roots
formed from the Parent Root are directly related in meaning to the Parent Root. Table 6
below are the Child Roots formed from the Parent Root PF (BL), which has the