BETHULAH_ and/or _(ALMAH_
Raymond de Hoop
rdehoop at tref.nl
Mon Jan 29 10:56:26 EST 2001
As we know (almah is the female form of (elem, "lad, young man". Because
the latter is NOT used to indicate whether we are dealing with a young
man, who had sexual intercourse or not; it might be correct to consider
this fact also with regard to (almah. It is used for young women,
regardless wether they are married or not.
Bethulah occurs already in the texts of Ugarit to denote the goddess
(Anatu, who did have intercourse with her husband, the god Ba(lu. So
this word did originally not have the specific meaning of "virgin"in
West-semitic languages.
Raymond
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Dr Raymond de Hoop Telephone: ++31-(0)50 553 0115
Boeiersingel 11
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The Netherlands E-mail: rdehoop at tref.nl
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