Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: BETHULAH - virgin

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "George Athas" <gathas AT globalfreeway.com.au>
  • To: "Biblical Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: BETHULAH - virgin
  • Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 00:55:37 +1100


BETULIM and BETULAH, although related words, have slightly different
connotations, but
there is still a huge amount of overlap (as is to be expected of related
words).

BETULIM implies "virginity" the same as we would see it -- that is, someone
who has had no
previous sexual experience - someone who is physically a virgin.

A BETULAH is a "single woman". Considering the society of the ancient Near
East, this
meant more often than not that the single woman was also physically a virgin.
However,
physical virginity is not the prime focus of the word BETULAH; rather, the
focus is on
social virginity -- someone available for marriage (or remarriage).

A study on the contextual usage of the word BETULAH shows this. Often, the
explicit
statement is made, of a BETULAH that she "had known no man" (or another
similar
expression). If BETULAH purely alluded to physical virginity (and not social
virginity),
then the statement becomes redundant through tautology. The fact that BETULAH
has a
socio-relational focus means that if the woman were a physical virgin, then
it would need
to be pointed out in addition to simply naming her as a BETULAH.

The word (ALMAH has a different connotation again. It refers to a young girl.
Again, by
social implication, such a young girl would presumably be a physical virgin.
(ALMAH
probably corresponds to our modern expression "young lady", which is usually
reserved for
school-going teens -- that is, physically developed, but young in age.


Best regards,

GEORGE ATHAS
(Sydney, Australia)
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Tel Dan Inscription Website
http://members.nbci.com/gathas/teldan.htm
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page