Biblical Hebrew Forum

[peter_kirk AT sil.org]

But surely MIT)ASLEM is not a hithpael form, but a form based on a 
borrowed quadriliteral root )SLM, from the Arabic )ISLAAM "Islam" or 
)ASLAMA "convert to Islam". In fact it is rather anomalous because the 
Arabic root is surely SLM corresponding to Hebrew $LM (with Shin). So 
the true Hebrew form would be MIT$ALLEM or MI$TALLEM. But this 
hithpael form does not appear in the Tanakh either.

If Wondell's friend is trying to get him to "mitaslem", he's going 
about it in a strange way!

Peter Kirk


______________________________ Reply Separator 
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Subject: mitaslem
Author:  alster AT comandcom.com at internet
Date:    13/07/1999 23:49


Shalom again!

I thought I'd add to my clarification on "mitaslem", that although the word 
itself cannot be BH, the usage of the hitpa'el form for religious 
conversion does have its roots in Tanach. Esther 8:17 reads in Hebrew: 
"ve-rabbim me-'ame ha-aretz *mityahadim*", which means (to those who accept 
the MT version here) some sort of conversion to Judaism (as I have no 
translated Bible at home, I don't know how most of you read this verse).

Therefore we have "mityahed" as converting to Judaism (as opposed to the 
later "mitgayer", from "ger", which is the common term in modern Hebrew); 
"mitaslem" to Islam; and "mitnatzer" to Christianity.  The last two, of 
course, are based on the form of the Biblical first.

Baruch Alster


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