b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Re: BETHULAH_ and/or _(ALMAH_

From: Raymond de Hoop <rdehoop AT tref.nl>
To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
Subject: Re: BETHULAH_ and/or _(ALMAH_
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 16:56:26 +0100

As we know (almah is the female form of (elem, "lad, young man". Because the latter is NOT used to indicate whether we are dealing with a young man, who had sexual intercourse or not; it might be correct to consider this fact also with regard to (almah. It is used for young women, regardless wether they are married or not.

Bethulah occurs already in the texts of Ugarit to denote the goddess (Anatu, who did have intercourse with her husband, the god Ba(lu. So this word did originally not have the specific meaning of "virgin"in West-semitic languages.

Raymond

--

***********************************************************

Dr Raymond de Hoop Telephone: ++31-(0)50 553 0115
Boeiersingel 11 NL-9745 CA Groningen
The Netherlands E-mail: rdehoop AT tref.nl

***********************************************************

Re: BETHULAH_ and/or _(ALMAH_, Raymond de Hoop, 01/29/2001