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b-hebrew - Re[2]: End of Malachi: Kherem.

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  • From: "Peter Kirk"<peter_kirk AT sil.org>
  • To: <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>, <wross AT farmerstel.com>
  • Subject: Re[2]: End of Malachi: Kherem.
  • Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 22:26:38 -0500


This may be true, but I am concerned about your first example. The
English "harem" is derived via Turkish from the Arabic "haram", which
is also a Muslim religious concept. A colleague of mine recently did a
comparative study of the Hebrew XEREM and the word "haram" as borrowed
from Arabic into another language under Muslim influence. My colleague
found some quite significant differences between the concepts, e.g.
that the Arabic "haram" is to be rejected because it is unclean,
whereas the Hebrew XEREM is to be destroyed because it is holy. So
pork is "haram" (forbidden by religious laws) to the Muslim, but I
don't think XEREM would ever be used of anything like pork in the
Hebrew Bible. A harem of women were not devoted for destruction, but
were so called (I suspect) because they were forbidden to any man but
the sultan.

Peter Kirk


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Subject: Re: End of Malachi: Kherem.
Author: <wross AT farmerstel.com> at Internet
Date: 21/02/2000 10:31


My understanding is that it literally means "devoted" and hence can apply
to:

* a "harem" of women devoted to the sultan's good pleasures
* prisoners of war devoted to destruction
* a people on an inviolable path to destruction (hence, cursed)

Bill Ross

<snip>





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