Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - BH: Lev. 21: 20 )$k and stones

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Cynthia Edenburg <cynthia AT oumail.openu.ac.il>
  • To: 'Biblical Hebrew digest' <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: BH: Lev. 21: 20 )$k and stones
  • Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 11:31:55 +0200


As Na'amah pointed out, )$k is the proper term for testicles in Modern
Hebrew. However, in BH it indeed is hapax, and all the instances in early
Rabbinic Hebrew (MH) occur in discussions of this passage.
I remember that some of the ANE texts in ANET use the stone euphemism. For
example, Ginsberg translated the section Ras Shamra 319 in ANET: "He seizes
and holds [her] womb; [She] siezes and holds [his] stones". I can't check
whether this is a literal rendering of the Ugaritic or whether Ginsberg is
being poetic. Does anyone know how the Ugaritic reads? Also, I seem to
remember that the Hittite Kumarbi text use the stone image (or am I
confusing the myth about the god who turns to stone and then is
emasculated?)

Cynthia Edenburg

The Open University of Israel Tel. 972-3-6460500 fax.
972-3-460767
Dept. of History, Philosophy and Jewish Studies
POB 39328 Rehov Klausner 16
Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 61392 ISRAEL





  • BH: Lev. 21: 20 )$k and stones, Cynthia Edenburg, 04/10/2000

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page