Hebrew, like all Semitic languages, uses a system of three-letter roots that are then modified to form words. It’s a little bit like how “swim; swam; swum” change tense based on inserting a specific vowel, but in the case of Hebrew this is many times more robust. However, while it’s clear how verbs conjugate, or nouns plualize etc., this leads to some big questions.
For example, the three letter root ל־ח־ם (l-ḥ-m) is the basis for למם (lechem) meaning “bread” or more generally “sustinence”, but also the word מלחמה (milchama) meaning “war”, and some other pretty interesting uses as well including hilchim meaning”welding”. In this case, it has traditionally been understood as having a fundemental meaning of “being pressed together” which includes the bread making process, welding, and war is collision of two armies pressed together, certainly back in the days of swords and shields. The question then is, is there always a connection?
The Torah does not seem to shy away from this, and in fact there are some instances of poetic or even humorous languages as a result. For instance, in the Book of Ruth (2:10):
ותאמר אליו מדוע מצאתי חן בעיניך להכירני ואנכי נכריה׃…
“…And said to him, “Why are you so kind as to recognize me, when I am a foreigner?”
since the root נ-כ-ר (N-C-R) can mean both “strange; foreign” and “familiar; recognize”, nearly antonyms. While it is possible there is no relationship between these words, it would be strange for the Torah to note this for no reason.
Are They Always Related?
This question, is ultimately a matter of some dispute. Many traditional sources will try to find a link between these Hebrew root letters no matter what, and would argue that even if one is not obvious or apparent, it will still exist. Indeed, sometimes looking at how a Hebrew root is used in related languages like Aramaic or Arabic can help clarify this when the situation would not be evident with Hebrew alone, in the case that some meanings have diverged greatly over time. Others may argue that there are cases when two sets of root letters are only related by coincidence, simply as a result of having a limited number of letter combinations that can reasonably make up all the words in Hebrew.
Take for example the root ב-ש-ר (b-s-r) meaning “meat; flesh; person” but also as a verb it means “announce; herald”. One prominent explanation is that the outer layer of a person, i.e. the flesh, is announcement of a person, as it were, since it is what is exposed to the world before other internal and personality features, but others will say this is not clearly related enough to be stated as a fact.
It is definitely true that some disperate meanings are related like with the (l-ḥ-m) example above, with proof from older meanings in ancient texts to prove it. In some cases, like the other examples here, it is not obvious historically or linguistically if the words are connected, and one can choose to search for deeper relations or not.
