Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Trevor & Julie Peterson" <06peterson AT cua.edu>]

Nick wrote:

> It seems reasonable to suppose that the
> prediction consists
>      of a double statement in that there will be a double
> judgment.

Or perhaps it's a rather poetic statement. Not only is there semantic
equivalence, but if maher and chash are participles, the halves are
syntactically parallel.

> If this
>      is so, then could it also be said that 'Maher-shalal' is Hebrew,
>      pertaining to Samaria, and 'hash-baz' is Aramaic (or maybe
>      'Aramaizing' Hebrew) relating to Damascus?

Do you see anything particularly Aramaic about either word? shalal and baz
are used together in 10:6 and in Ezek 38:12, BTW. They seem just to be
synonyms native to Hebrew. Chash is reasonably well-attested in Hebrew, and
I'm not even sure that it has an Aramaic cognate.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics