Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Dave,

You say:

>That said, the oft-repeated argument about `almah meaning "young
>woman [of marriageable age]" AS OPPOSED to "virgin" seems
>equally artificial to me; wouldn't a "young woman of marriageable
>age" be expected to be a virgin in that culture?

This is the position I took in the paper on I mentioned. But I added a
Ugaritic reference suggesting virgin as a meaning for the Ugaritic cognate
to Hebrew "almah."

                                Yours,
                                Harold Holmyard