Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Verna Craig <rowan2 AT cpnw.net>]

    Andrew Jukes, in a footnote 2 in his book The Names
of God states "... As to the view of some, that the word "Elohim" is
derived directly from El (la))))))which
signifies "strong" or "mighty," it may perhaps suffice to say that the
plural of El is Elim, not Elohim. God surely may be and is called both"El"
(Gen. xiv.20, and in many other places,) and "Elim," (as in Psalm xxix.1;
and elsewhere) that is "The Mighty;" but the letter H in "Elohim" points
to the true etymology of the name, from hla,
"to
swear"... (pg.18)
    Why can't this word originally  have been feminine
with masculine endings added later. This seems to be what happened to the
word for field, hdc, which stems from the word
"breast",
hdc.  In this case a woman or
female animal's breasts are now considered masculine which is the
only exception I could find  to the rule that organs of the body coming
in pairs are feminine.
    I am very interested in this hidden history within
the Hebrew Grammar. The roots of Hebrew language come from it's nomatic
and agricultural roots, and seem to have had a more feminine presence than
is now apparent. Any information on this is very welcome!
VernaLee Craig

Shoshanna Walker wrote:

Question by way of Ron Sebring "Assuming ELOHIM is a female noun
with a male plural ending, how should we translate the pronouns
that refer to it into a gender neutral language like English,
and still be true to the text?"  Any exegesis?  Harold  Helm

Who says it is a female noun?

What is the noun, exactly?

Sorry, I am new to this list, and familiar with Biblical Hebrew, and
fluent in spoken Hebrew, but not from a scientific linguistic point
of view

Shoshanna

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