The rest of the word

Dear Editor,

Biblical religious expert George Anderson has explained part of the word "Bible" in his latest letter to the Gazette."Bi" means two -- logical by modern standards. But he doesn't explain the rest of the word -- "ble." According to Jewish and Christian historians, the answer is that early writers used papyrus, and they didn't have the space to write long explanations; thus "ble" is a shortened form for "bleat."

The Bible is loaded with sheep that bleat for various reasons -- one is that they often served as food for hungry people -- which would cause them to "bleat." If Anderson's "Bi" is correct, there must have been one more reason they would "bleat," but the specific situation is not explained by the historians nor by George.

Maybe Mr. Anderson can dig a little deeper into his extraordinary religious knowledge and answer these mysterious words for us.

R. Burns,

Palisade