לשחרר

[Ali Smith]

שלום!

I know the root letters of le-shakharer are ח ר ר (it's obviously cognate with the Arabic ح ر ر). What is the purpose of the ש in the beginning? What stem is this?

Thank you!

 

[Drink]

A little background: In some older Semitic languages, including Akkadian, the causative stem (what in Hebrew is the "hif'il" and in Arabic is the form IV أفعل) was characterized by the "sh-" prefix rather than the Hebrew "ה" or Arabic "أ".

This form of creating the causative meaning was then borrowed by Aramaic speakers to create the "shaf'el" binyan in Aramaic. Then Hebrew borrowed this concept from Aramaic, but patterned them as 4-letter pi'el verbs rather than equating them with the hif'il. So essentially the addition of the ש root letter creates a four-letter root with a causative meaning.

Some examples:
- שחרר to free
- שעבד to enslave
- שחזר to return
- שכנע to persuade

 

[Ali Smith]

Thank you so much, Drink! What about לשדרג, which my dictionary translates as "monter en grade (to promote)"?

 

[Drink]

Yep, that's also one.

 

[Ali Smith]

Thanks! It's derived from דרג dereg (échelon = rung), I think. It makes sense because when you promote someone, you move him or her up a rung.
We should make a list of such verbs.

 

[Drink]

Yes, exactly.

Probably most 4-letter roots that start with ש are examples of this (except for "reduplicative" ones like שעשע or שלשל).

 

[Abaye]

בעברית החדשה חזרו להשתמש בבניין שפעל, לפעמים כחלופה לבניין הפעיל (שכנע, שכפל) ולפעמים כתחליף לקידומת הלועזית re- (שעתק, שכתב, שחזר). יש מחלוקת אם אפשר לקרוא ל"שפעל" בניין בעברית הישראלית, או שמדובר בשורש של ארבעה עיצורים השייך לבניין פיעל.

בניינים בעברית – ויקיפדיה