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b-hebrew - Re: MELEK HA(WOLAM

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  • From: "Ruthy & Baruch" <alster AT comandcom.com>
  • To: "Biblical Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: MELEK HA(WOLAM
  • Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 21:27:39 +0300


Eric wrote:

> Please forgive my possible mistransliteration; it's usually spelled
"melech
> haolam" in popular English transliteration.
>
> I know this isn't a Biblical phrase, but it is in many Jewish liturgical
> prayers dating to Biblical times.
>
> It's usually translated "King of the Universe" but (WOLAM to me has more
of
> a time sense than an earth/solar system/galaxies sense (which is how I
> react to the word "universe"). I've checked Brown-Driver-Briggs,
Holladay,
> Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, New International Dictionary
of
> Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, and Ernest Klein's Etymological
> Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for meaning(s) of (WOLAM.
>
> What would be a better translation?

Although you're right about the meaning of (OLFM in BH, in Rabbinic Hebrew
it really does mean something more like "universe". See Proverbs 10:25,
where (OLFM is taken by the Rabbis in this sense in quite a few passages,
e.g. Bavli Yoma 38b and Hagigah 12b. See also Mishna Avot 1:2. These are
just basic examples - virtually all uses of (OLFM in Rabbinic Hebrew
carries this meaning!!

Kol Tuv,
Baruch Alster
Kochav Ya`akov, Israel





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