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  • From: peter_kirk AT sil.org
  • To: <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re[2]: Gen 3:24 (Cherubim)
  • Date: Fri, 07 Jan 2000 12:44:34 -0500


It's worth pointing out in this regard that the Hebrew MAL'AKH has
been borrowed into Arabic and thence into many other languages, but
only, I think, in the sense of an angelic being and not as a human
messenger. Also the aleph has been dropped in Arabic so the word
appears to come from the root MLK = "king" (found in Arabic as well as
Hebrew). This Arabic usage may postdate the Vulgate but is probably
not dependent on it. I guess the same happened as in Latin, only the
distinctive meaning of the word was borrowed from Hebrew or Greek, as
both languages had perfectly good other words for a human messenger.

Peter Kirk


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Subject: Re: Gen 3:24 (Cherubim)
Author: <lewreich AT javanet.com> at Internet
Date: 07/01/2000 01:02

<snip>

> Malachim are messangers and could be regarded as angelic.

As I understand it, quite literally. *Mal'akh* in Hebrew means
messenger, and in the Hebrew Bible it is used to describe
messengers who are clearly human as well as those who might be
understood as celestial. According to the Anchor Bible Dictionary
article on the subject, it is from the the translation of mal'akh in the
LXX as *aggelos* that the English word "angel" derives, and both
words as terms describing functions can refer equally to human or
angelic beings. The article also states that it is only with the
Vulgate that a systematic distinction was made between angelic
emissaries (Lat. angelus) and human ones (Lat. nuntius).

Lewis Reich





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