Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Niels Peter Lemche <npl AT teol.ku.dk>]

> >RF
> >The Hebrew and Aramaic word )B ("av") can refer to one's father,
> >grandfather, great grandfather etc. Some researchers have claimed that
> >Nabonid was married to to Nitocris, the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar. So
> >there is no real evidence against the designation "son".
> 
        The argument about fathers and sons is not much worth. 'Father' and
'son' can be called classificatory terms in such cases, indicating a
difference of status or age group between two person who may only be
politically related. This is quite normal in traditional socities of our own
time (the Catholic Church included) and it is quite easy to find examples in
the ANE. I just transcribed a Amarna letter in which Rib-Adda of Byblos
calls an Egyptian official 'my father'.

        NPL
>