Biblical Hebrew Forum

[John Ronning <ronning AT nis.za>]

Somebody wrote,

>
> In Hebrew- the name of the city is Yerushalayim...
> > dual and not plural- which would be Yerushalim.  The origin of this usage
> is
> > quite simply the fact that Jerusalem sits on a couple of hills (thus the
> > dual notion).

I thought it was a late and artificial change in pronunciation from
Yerushalem brought
about to remind Jews that there are two Jerusalems - that below (under
domination by foreigners, then destroyed by the Romans), and that which
is above (the Zion which is subject of so much eschatological prophecy).

Doesn't the fact that it's spelled without the YOD 99+% of the time
(plus the LXX spelling plus the Aramaic spelling) show that in fact this
pronunciation is late and contrived?

John