Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Ramases

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: MarianneLuban AT aol.com
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Ramases
  • Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 13:43:09 +0100

On 30/07/2004 00:20, MarianneLuban AT aol.com wrote:

... Please note that the names of Moshe and Aharon never again appear in the HB--which would be very odd if these were names that meant something in Semitic. They became used in the Diaspora only when such distinction were no longer so well-drawn as even before that Jews had begun to be called by foreign names quite routinely--mostly Greek or Roman ones. However, we know the name "Joseph" was used before the Roman dispersion--because, after all, Joseph really is a Semitic name the meaning of which is clear.


Nor do any of the names of the great heroes of early Israel (and I won't even look before Abraham), whether or not they are of Semitic origin. The following names all refer to just one individual in the Hebrew Bible: Abraham/Abram, Sarah/Sarai, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Leah, Rachel, Moses, Aaron, Samuel, Saul, David, Solomon. Some of these are certainly Semitic. Joseph and Joshua are not unique, it is true. But there are many names, especially forms ending in -yah(u), which are reused many times in the long lists of names in Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, so the argument from chance is not at all convincing. This certainly suggests that, as Yigal has suggested, there was a reluctance, because of respect or some kind of taboo, to name children after these great heroes.

It is strange that there is no such reluctance in modern Judaism (all of the names listed above are in common use, I think), nor in Islam, nor in Christianity except only for the name Jesus and that only in some traditions.


--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/






Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page