Translation
Bryan Rocine
596547 at ican.net
Wed Oct 28 14:10:56 EST 1998
Hi Irene, Steve, et al.
Fox has a Hebrew word for steam; observe the Gen 4:2 note on the name
Hevel(commonly known as Abel): "The name suggests vapor, steam, i.e.,
'something transitory' (see the opening of the book of Ecclesiastes: _havel
havalim_)." But I think the root may not be used in any meteorological
context.
Or how about _)ed_ in Gen 2:6 _v:)ed ya(a:leh min ha)arec_ BDB says
"mist" for _)ed_, and the Fox says for Gen 2:6, "...but a surge would well
up from the ground..."
You may want to see Job 36:32-33 or Ps 148:8 more likely meteorological
references.
Shalom,
Bryan
----------
> From: Irene Riegner <iriegner at concentric.net>
> To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew at franklin.oit.unc.edu>
> Subject: Translation
> Date: Wednesday, October 28, 1998 10:15 AM
>
> Dear List People
>
> I have a strange question: Is there a word for "steam" in biblical
> Hebrew? In Akkadian?
>
> If there is, I wonder if it's a construct form using as one of its
> elements "water" (mym) or "nose" (@p) or "to ascend" [ (lh]?
>
> I was reading the BDB definition of @p---nose, nostril, face,
> anger---and it occurred to me that the meaning "face" places an
> idiomatic English meaning on @p that is not found in Hebrew. Thus Gen
> 19.6, "And Joseph's brothers... bowed low to him, noses to the ground"
> means just that. "Faces to the ground," the usual translation, express
> the English idiom, not the Hebrew. By saying that @p also means "face,"
> BDB is extending the range of meaning beyond the Hebrew.
>
> Comments? Any other places you have noticed this extension? It would
> seem that Fox's translation should avoid these pitfalls by a rendering
> closer to the Hebrew idiom.
>
> irene
B. M. Rocine
Associate Pastor
Living Word Church
6101 Court St. Rd.
Syracuse, NY 13208
315-437-6744(w)
315-479-8267(h)
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