1966: Drawbacks to Looking for Cultural Connection with Multiple Definitions May 3, 2020

It's sometimes possible to get cultural information just by looking at connotations or multiple definitions a word can have. For instance, the Hebrew זקן‎ (zaken) as a noun means 'beard' but also 'sage' (as in a person, not the spice), and as an adjective means 'elderly'. However, one should be careful not to put too much stock into them, as the Hebrew root כבש (K-B-Sh) leads to 'pickle' and 'highway', respectively כבוש (kbosh) and כביש (kvish). If you can discern a connection between the two, leave your best guess in the comments.

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