First occurrence
And he had possessions of flocks, and possessions of herds, and a great household; and the Philistines envied him. Gen 26:14
The primitive root
“Envy” is Strong’s H7068, qinah, a concrete noun meaning, “ardor, jealousy, zeal, envy, anger, indignation;” from Strong’s H7065 קנא kana, a primitive root meaning, literally, “to become very red;” i.e., “to be jealous, to envy, to burn with zeal.” The ancient pictographs are quph + nun + aleph.
quph ק = sun on the horizon, thus condense, circle, time
nun נ, ן = the seed, thus continue, heir, son
aleph א = the ox head, thus strength, power, leader
According to the Ancient Hebrew Lexicon, the root means, in its verb form, “to acquire;” the concrete noun, “a nest;” the abstract concept, “zealous.” Birds acquire or gather materials (as light gathers to the sun on the horizon, quph) because of their eggs (nun) in order to build a nest. To get to the abstract concept of zealous:
The parent bird will guard over and protect the nest and eggs from predators. Man can guard over the family, wife, and possessions in a positive way (protect, from an enemy) or in a negative way (by not trusting or a desire to have another’s possessions).
– Ancient Hebrew Lexicon
The story the pictographs are telling is of being protective of one’s nest (quph + nun) to the strongest degree (aleph).
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