re: #1215 Kenneth

You are correct to point out that the words “Islam” and “salaam” come from the same root word. Because of that, the meaning of “peace” in Arabic is closer in meaning to the English word “pacified”, which is similar in meaning to “submission”. I was intentionally taking liberties with meanings, but I think you understand my point: when the Arab world talks about wanting “peace” (salaam) in the Middle East, they mean they want Israel to submit (islam) to Muslim dominance.

You example of “do & don’t” makes a poor argument. The addition of the negative “not” reverses the meaning of the root word. The difference in meaning between “Islam” and “salaam” is much less than the difference between “islam” and its antonym “harb” (war).

Are you an Arabist? My brother is. I’ll run your argument by him and see what he says, but I’m not just gonna buy it. I wonder how “close” the word “shalom” - from the same Semitic root S-L-M - is to other Hebrew words that might mean something similar to “submission” or whatever. I don’t think you can make a lexical case for what you’re saying without running into big semantic-Semitic trouble.

My do-don’t example was indeed weak. A better one might be “restful” and “restive”, which both come from the Latin verb “restare” yet mean opposite things. No one who knows what “restive” means thinks it has anything to do with resting. The common root is immaterial.