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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] $ADAI
  • Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:45:44 EDT


Isaac Fried:

You wrote: “If you question the Masoretes' pointing of the name SARAY, then
you
should, by the same logic, question also the editor(s) of the Hebrew
bible on his choice of the letter sin. After all, the name of the
first lady was not copied from a birth certificate. We easily imagine
that when confronted with the choice of samek versus sin he readily
discarded the odious samek-resh for the noble sin-resh, making her an
instant princess.”

I thought that you and I had agreed that neither “Sary” (sin-resh-yod) nor “
Sarah” means “princess”.

1. “Sar” (sin-resh) means a male “top official” of a king or pharaoh.
When applied to human beings, “sar” does not mean “prince”. A “prince” is a
son of a king who is a potential heir of the king. A “sar”, by contrast, is
a
minister or officer or commander, etc. appointed by the king, and usually
having no blood relation to the king.

2. One meaning of “sary” (sin-resh-yod) is a plural form of “sar”, meaning
more than one male “top officials” of a king or pharaoh. “Sary” does not
mean “princes” when applied to human beings. At Genesis 12: 15, it certainly
is not Pharaoh’s sons who are recommending that Abraham’s wife be brought
into Pharaoh’s household. No, we are dealing with “top officers” of Pharaoh
who
are probably not related to Pharaoh by blood.

3. A second meaning of “Sary” (spelled sin-resh-yod, but perhaps properly
pronounced "Sarai") is a woman’s name, that is a play on the underlying root
word “sar”. It means a woman who is strong-willed and assertive like “top
officials”/sary of a king or pharaoh. “Sary” does not mean princess when
applied
to a human being. Abraham’s wife was not the daughter of a king, so she was
never a “princess”. Her key relationship is as a wife (to Abraham), not as a
daughter.

I do not see any usage of these words in the Patriarchal narratives contrary
to the above analysis.

Abraham’s wife was never a “princess”. Neither of her names means “princess
”.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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