Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lewis Reich" <lewreich AT javanet.com>]

I perhaps should have made more clear that in Biblical Hebrew mal'akh means
simply messenger.  Over time, I believe the meaning has shifted, so that in
later Hebrew one would use "shaliakh"  (agent, lit. one who is sent) to
refer to a human.

Lewis Reich


----- Original Message -----
From: <peter_kirk AT sil.org>
To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Sent: Friday, January 07, 2000 12:44 PM
Subject: Re[2]: Gen 3:24 (Cherubim)


> 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
>
>
> ______________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________
> 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).