3. The concepts of left and right in Tanakh
3.0 Similarities across semitic languages
In the same way as English is a member of a group of Indo-European languages, Hebrew is one member in a group of semitic languages. Roots for “right” and “left” are common to many semitic languages, and so are their meanings. “Right” in Hebrew is yamin. In Akkadian it is imnu. In Ugaritic it is yemen. “Left”in Hebrew is shemol. In Akkadian it is shumelu. In Ugaritic, it is ushmal.
There are five biblical meanings of “right” and “left”. Most frequently, they are used together to mean everywhere. They can mean north vs south directions. They can mean strength vs weakness. They can mean honor or preference vs dishonor and shame: As in many other cultures, right is favored over left (this is also in our own language, for example, “right hand man” is a place of honor). They can mean goodness vs badness.
It is interesting to note that all such meanings can be found in other semitic languages.
Born left-handed 