Two biblical and Akkadian comparative lexical notes, Part 8 (Lexicographical observations on Hebrew verbal equivalents)

1. The verb "ritesh" was equated by KB(3) with the Heb. "natash", (a) "to smite, smash", (b) "to spread out" > "to forsake", and by BDB with Targumic Aramaic "ratesh" "to cast away, reject". Both KB(3)'s and BDB's equations seem difficult to accept on semantic grounds. The author proposes to equate Heb. "ritesh" etymologically and semantically with the metathesized Akk. verb "saratu"/"surrutu" "to tear apart", where both verbs mean "to split open" (pregnant women/children) at a time of war. 2. The Heb. verb "qatan" "to be small" and the adjective "qatan/qaton", "small, young" are the etymological equivalents of the Akk. verb "qatanu" and the adjective "qatnu" which, unlike the Heb. lexemes, connote mainly "to become thin, narrow" and "thin, fine, narrow" (adj.). However, the author proposes in two places to equate etymologically and semantically the substantive "qoten" (1 Kings 12:10) and the adjective "qaton" (1 Samuel 2:19) with Akk. "qatnu/qutnu" in the sense "thin, fine". "Qat'ani" (1 Kings 12:10) may then be rendered as "my thinnest part (of the body) is thicker than my father's loins". The adjective "qaton" on the other hand, employed in the idiom "m'il qaton" (1 Samuel 2:19) should be rendered as "thin, fine (quality) robe" and equated with the Akk. expressions "nahlaptu/subatu/lubstu qatnu" "thin, fine (quality) textile, garment/wardrobe".