Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] hurrian?

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: nir AT ccet.ufrn.br, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] hurrian?
  • Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:07:02 -0400 (EDT)


Nir Cohen:

You wrote: “let us say we want to check whether (PRWN is
hurrian-made-hebrew or hebrew-made-hurrian. … conclusion: let's talk about
more serious
issues.”

The b-hebrew list focuses on linguistic issues regarding Biblical Hebrew.
As you probably know, the mainstream scholarly view is that the “Hittites”,
the Kenites, the Kenizzites and the Jebusites are made-up names for peoples
who did not exist historically, with XTY perhaps borrowing the name of the
classic Hittites in eastern Anatolia, but with there being no historical
Hittites in southern Canaan from whom Abraham could have bought Sarah’s
gravesite in chapter 23 of Genesis. The scholarly view is that the group
names “
Hittites”, the Kenites, the Kenizzites and the Jebusites don’t make much
sense, and no name of any individual, such as (PRWN, who is said to be a
member
of those four groups, makes much sense either, yet nevertheless (i) we must
assume that all such names are west Semitic names [that make little or no
sense], and (ii) we must not ask if each and every one of these names makes
perfect sense as a Hurrian name. When you say “let's talk about more serious
issues”, you thereby forfeit a linguistic analysis of this aspect of the
historicity of the Bible.

Based on the Amarna Lettters, we know that upwards of 80% of the princeling
rulers in greater Canaan in the mid-14th century BCE were Hurrians. If the
Patriarchal narratives are accurately reflecting the Amarna Age, which was
the turbulent period of time when Judaism historically was born [my view],
then of necessity the Patriarchal narratives would have a great deal of talk
about the Hurrians, and we would expect Abraham to buy Sarah’s gravesite
from a Hurrian lord. In Hurrian (PRWN means “the [Hurrian] lord”, so the
name
makes absolutely perfect sense for the depiction of a Hurrian
lord/landowner in the Amarna Age who sells a gravesite to Abraham. Although
a small
number of former Hurrians in Jerusalem continued to give their children
Hurrian
names until exilic times, only in the Amana Age would one expect to buy a
gravesite in southern Canaan from a Hurrian landowner. So one of the most
important things that the b-hebrew list can do, as a matter of Biblical
Hebrew
linguistics, is to decide whether or not (PRWN H-XTY at Genesis 23: 10 is a
Hebrew name of a person who belongs to a fictional Canaanite clan or who
fictionally is a classic Hittite from eastern Anatolia [the two scholarly
views
of the matter], or whether that’s a Hurrian name of a Hurrian, with Hurrian
landowners historically being prominent in Canaan only during the Amarna
Age.

The following linguistic arguments support my view of the Hurrian nature of
(PRWN H-XTY:

1. (PRWN means “the [Hurrian] lord” in Hurrian, being quite similar to
ipri-enne attested in the Mitanni Letter [Amarna Letter EA 23] with that
meaning. In Hebrew, however, the meaning would incongruously be “fawn”, and
it’
s also hard to understand how that -WN ending would apply to an old west
Semitic name [prior to plene spelling for west Semitic words or names].

2. XTY is a dead ringer for Xu-Ti-Ya, being the most attested Hurrian name
at Nuzi. Historically, “Hatti” referred to a place, in eastern Anatolia,
and was not used as an ethnic designation [the modern English word “Hittite”
]. It defies reason why a Biblical author would portray either the classic
Hittites from eastern Anatolia, or an unattested Canaanite clan, as being
landowners in the Hebrews’ beloved homeland of southern Canaan.

3. Outside of the Patriarchal narratives, the most famous reference to XTY
is the KJV phrase “Uriah the Hittite”. Many scholars agree that “Uriah”
is a bona fide Hurrian name, so it makes sense that H-XTY is referring to
Hurrians.

4. There are 6 other names of XTY in the Patriarchal narratives. All of
them make perfect sense in Hurrian, while not making good sense as west
Semitic names:

(i) ’YL-WN : Aye-li-un-ne : “Elon”, at Genesis 36: 2 (with a shortened
spelling at Genesis 26: 34); one of Esau’s Hurrian fathers-in-law. This may
be essentially the same name as the attested Hurrian name Ayakun [which may
be Aye-ki-un-ne], except that the Hurrian formative -li­ is substituted
for the Hurrian formative -ki. The implied Hurrian meaning may have been “
Facing (Teshup)”.

(ii) CXR : Cuxar : “Zohar”, at Genesis 23: 8 and Genesis 25: 9; father
of “Ephron”, the Hurrian lord who sells Abraham Sarah’s gravesite. Compare
the Hurrian name Cuxar-tiya at Nuzi, where the final -tiya is a formative
that references Teshup. Zuxri means “heavy, great” .

(iii) YHW-DYT : E-xu-u – ta-a-ta : “Judith”, at Genesis 26: 34; one of
Esau’s Hurrian wives. [Traditionally understood as meaning “Jewess”, but
that does not make sense in context.] The first half of the name compares to
the Hurrian common word e-xu-u$ (omitting the final consonant, which is not
part of the root). This may be related to the Hurrian word e-xe-el-li-bi,
meaning “oversee”. The second half of the name compares directly to the
Hurrian name Ta-a-ta (where D and T are interchangeable in Hurrian). The
meaning may be “Love Being Overseen by Teshup”.

(iv) B’R-Y : Bi-ir-ya : “Beeri” at Genesis 26: 34; one of Esau’s
Hurrian fathers-in-law. One of the Nuzi spellings of “to be lord” is Bi-ir.
The
final yod/Y is the Hurrian theophoric suffix -ya. This name has the same
meaning as “Uriah”: “Teshup Is Lord”.

(v) B$-MT : Bish-Mati : “Basemath”, at Genesis 26: 34; one of Esau’s
Hurrian wives. B$ compares to the first element in the Nuzi name Bi-$a -
at-ta, based on the Hurrian common word pi$, meaning “built” (where B and P
are
interchangeable in Hurrian). The second element of this name compares
directly to -mati, which is the second element in five Hurrian names at Nuzi,
and
is the Hurrian word for “mind, intelligence”. The meaning may be “Built
by (Teshup’s) Intelligence”.

(vi) ‘DH : Adux : “Adah” at Genesis 36: 2; one of Esau’s Hurrian wives.
If the final -H is a type of heth, the name ADH/Adux would compare to the
root of the common word adux-lu, meaning “commanding officer”. Adding an
implied theophoric, the Hurrian meaning could be: “(Teshup is my) Commanding
Officer”.

* * *

In sum, the evidence is overwhelming that the Patriarchal narratives
portray Abraham as buying Sarah’s gravesite from a Hurrian landowner. That
is
important linguistic evidence that the Patriarchal narratives may be
accurately
reflecting the turbulent times of the Amarna Age, when Hurrian princelings
ruled throughout Canaan. The linguistic key for the b-hebrew list to
consider is to give up on the 2,000-year-old scholarly tradition of doing
creative
west Semitic analyses of the foregoing 9 non-Semitic names.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page