Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Moshe Shulman <mshulman AT ix.netcom.com>]

At 10:29 AM 10/28/99 -0500, you wrote:
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Eric Rasmusen <erasmuse AT indiana.edu>
>> Peter Kirk wrote:
>> Proof texts like Isaiah 7:14 relate only to the
>> Greek translations, where Christians preferred
>> the LXX "virgin" (parthenos) but Jews preferred
>> "young woman" (neanis) as in other Greek
>> translations, but the only attested Hebrew (at
>> least according to BHS) is `alma.
>>  This sounds reasonable.
>>      Does anyone have an idea of why the
>> Septuagint translators chose Parthenos (virgin)
>> to translate Alma (young woman or virgin)?
>>    Is that a better (or worse) translation than
>> Young Woman, theology aside?
>>       Could it  be that the Septuagint
>> translators thought the passage made more sense
>> as prophesying a miracle, and therefore chose
>> Virgin?
>Alternatively, had the sense of Alma changed between the writing of Isaiah
>and its translation in the LXX?  That is, could the more contemporary usage
>of Alma correspond more closely to 'vigin' even though the older sense was
>simply 'young woman'?

Actually Joe it is the opposite. The word parthenos underwent a change in
meaning.
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