Re: Why is high high?

[Michael Kubovy <mk9y@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Audionomes,

Pawel Kusmierek wrote:

> tell
> us how are sounds described in ...
> any other language!

A look in the Hebrew concordance to the Old Testament reveals no application
of the relevant root (GBH), or any of its dervative forms, to the description
of sound. A good dictionary of Hebrew tells me that in the Rabbinical
literature the word "gavohah" (=high) appears in the sense of "loud" but no
indication that it was used to refer to pitch. Modern Hebrew has preseved that
sense (analogous to "raising one's voice" in English), and has also accepted
(borrowed?) the pitch sense.

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