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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Etymology of "Galilee"
  • Date: Thu, 1 May 2008 11:14:28 EDT


1. My assertion that GLYL/GLL/Galilee ultimately derives from KRR in the
mid-15th century BCE Egyptian rendering has drawn a varied response. Chris
Weimer wrote: “…certainly Mr. Stinehart's new etymology is unfounded.” But
Yigal
Levin is one of the leading experts in the world on the geographical
boundaries of the tribes of Israel, and his comment was quite different: “I
do accept
(as do most scholars) that the KRR of New Kingdom Egyptian texts is actually
GLL, and that this refers to Galilee. Your suggestion that GLL as a
geographic
term comes from the area's hilly terrain is not original and is certainly
possible.” What is original and new here is my idea that GRR/Gerar is an
intermediate stage. My original, new view is that KRR first went to
GRR/Gerar, and
only later, or alternatively, went to GLL/GLYL/Galilee.

Isaac Fried wrote: “You are right that GL, 'mound, swell, encompass', and
GR, 'aggregate' are used both for elevated land, but we do not need the
Egyptians to
remind us of this. In Genesis 31:47 Jacob refers to the pile of stones they
erected as GAL and Laban calls it YGAR. Now GAR, in its variant HAR, is used
for a full fledged mountain, while GAL is but a small mound or a wave.”
O.K.,
but I am not trying to credit the Egyptians with KRR. The Egyptians simply
passively recorded an ancient west Semitic word that pre-dates the first
Hebrews.

2. Just for the record, I agree with most of the other things that Yigal
Levin wrote.
(a) “The word's connection to "Gilead" is interesting.” Give Isaac Fried
an assist on that one. (b) “However, your assumption that the biblical
"Golan" refers to what today is called the Golan Heights, i.e. the heights
just east
of the Sea of
Galilee/Kinneret is not correct. The biblical "Golan" is a CITY, not a
region, and it is in the Bashan, which is generally EAST of what is now
called the Golan Heights.” O.K., I’m fine with that. The point is that
all of those place names are GL place names, and they’re all in northern
greater
Canaan, somewhere in the general vicinity of the Sea of Galilee.

3. But now let’s get to what’s really on my mind. Could Beersheba of
GRR/Gerar in the Patriarchal narratives be a reference to some place like
historical Beersheba of GLL/GLYL/Galilee? Linguistically, if GLL is related
to GRR,
then the name “Galilee”/GLYL/GLL would be linguistically related to “Gerar”
/GRR.

There are two historical Beershebas in Canaan. One is in northern Canaan, in
Galilee, and the other is the more famous Beersheba in the Negev Desert.

There is a lovely tourist promo for “Beersheba of the Galilee” in northern
Israel here:

http://www.biblewalks.com/Sites/khirbetbeersheba.html

Beersheba of Galilee/GLYL/GLL goes back to the Persian period, in the mid-1st
millennium BCE.

Moreover, well-known historians, in their published works, have sometimes
gotten confused about these two very different Beershebas in different parts
of
Canaan:

“The place referred to by Josephus (Jewish Wars 2.573 and 3.39), which
Winckler wanted to identify with the Beersheba of the Old Testament, was a
village
in lower Galilee (Josephus Life 5.188).” W.J. Martin and A.R. Millard at p.
64 of “Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Places” (1995)

So when Sarah bears Isaac at a Beersheba, and when Isaac later gets rich
growing crops at a Beersheba, we cannot blindly assume that such Beersheba
must in
all events be the more famous Beersheba in the Negev Desert. No one ever got
rich growing crops at the Beersheba in the Negev Desert. Isaac is reported
to get rich growing crops at Beersheba of GRR/“Gerar” at Genesis 26: 12-14.
Note that it would be very possible to get rich growing crops at the lesser
known, but historical, Beersheba of GLYL/GLL/Galilee.

So then what about the Beersheba of GRR in the Patriarchal narratives? Is
that related to historical Beersheba of GLL? Both GLL and GRR mean “circle”,
according to the “Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Places”.

4. Now let’s get down to brass tacks and discuss chapter 21 of Genesis.
Hagar is exiled from GRR/Gerar. Hagar is no longer in GRR/Gerar when she
almost
dies of thirst. Then Hagar finds a fully-functioning, pre-existing well at
the famous Beersheba in the desolate Negev Desert. Genesis 21: 14, 19

But just several verses later, Abraham digs a n-e-w well, and Abraham names
the place where he has just dug a n-e-w well “Beersheba”. Can that
possibly be the same Beersheba where Hagar and Ishmael are almost dying of
thirst?
Remember, Hagar has been exiled from GRR/Gerar, whereas Abraham has remained
behind in GRR/Gerar, where Abraham is still dealing with Abimelek, Abimelek’s
herdsmen, and foreign mercenaries called “philistines”. Can Abraham and
Hagar
see each other when Hagar and Ishmael are almost dying of thirst? Of course
not. Hagar has been exiled from GRR/Gerar, whereas Abraham has stayed behind
in GRR/Gerar.

So we know that Abraham is not at the famous Beersheba in the Negev Desert at
that time, when Abraham is still at GRR/Gerar, and Hagar is almost dying of
thirst far from there at the famous Beersheba in the Negev Desert. Is
Abraham
at GLL/GLYL/Galilee? It would make perfect sense for Abraham to have taken
Sarah up to Galilee to have the baby. And it would make perfect sense for
Isaac
later to get rich growing crops in Galilee. There is an historical Beersheba
in Galilee. GLL may derive linguistically from GRR. GLL and GRR both mean “
circle” as one of their essential meanings. Are we starting to make sense
out
of this?

5. As to the traditional view that the GRR/gimel-resh-resh/Gerar of the
Patriarchal narratives is in the Negev Desert, consider the following sober
assessment by fine scholar Anson Rainey at p. 114 of “The Sacred Bridge” (who
might
be characterized as being a thinking man’s Biblical Maximalist of sorts):

“Gerar is never mentioned in any non-biblical source and its role as the
principal city in the western Negeb during the ‘ancestral period’ is fraught
with
difficulties”.

6. The key issue, you see, is the b-Hebrew list issue. Exactly what does
the Biblical Hebrew word GRR/gimel-resh-resh/Gerar mean? Is GRR/Gerar
related,
both linguistically and substantively, to GLL/Galilee? That is the new idea
I
am proposing.

Whether the Patriarchal narratives make perfect sense, rather than being
nonsensical, is in part riding on the key issue of whether the Hebrew word
GRR/Gerar is a reference to GLL/GLYL/Galilee loosely defined, namely:
“northern
Canaan”. All of those GR, GRR, GL and GLL words in northern greater Canaan
that
Isaac Fried and I have identified may be telling us something: “Gerar” is “
greater Galilee”.

As I see it, “Gerar” has nothing whatsoever to do with the Beersheba in the
Negev Desert or anything else in that part of the world. “Gerar” is not
attested down there in the ancient secular historical record. The
Patriarchal
narratives make sense only if “Gerar”/GRR is referencing northern
Canaan/greater
Galilee/GLL. I see the Hebrew words GRR and GLL (GLYL) as being closely
related, both linguistically and substantively. If GLL/GLYL/Galilee came
from
Egyptian KRR, as Yigal Levin has affirmed, then GRR/“Gerar” may well have
been
an intermediate stage in that process. If so, then “Gerar” may well mean “
greater Galilee”.

That is my new idea.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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