Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jack Kilmon" <jkilmon AT historian.net>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lisbeth S. Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2003 5:40 PM
Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] nefarious nefesh


> 
> >
> > Hi all:
> > I once wrote an article and did an intensive study on OT uses
> > of nefesh. I
> > was literally stunned by the wide variety of uses. But one particular
> > usage still baffles me: nefesh mot is used to describe a dead
> > corpse! Can
> > anyone explain how nefesh, which seems to have the base
> > meaning of breath
> > or life or soul, had come to be used to describe a corpse?
> > Any help would
> > be appreciate. Thanks! Matthew R. Miller
> 
> The traslation "soul" is based on the Greek LXX psyche,
> which is translated into the Latin "anima" which is translated
> into the English as "soul."
> But the concept as something which continues to exist after you
> die does not exist in the Hebrew.
> Liz

nf$ also means "body" as well as a "person" and a corpse is still a body.

Jack

-----
______________________________________________
Dakma dabadton l'chad min haleyn achi zoreh ly haw abadton

Jack Kilmon
San Marcos, Tx
jkilmon AT historian.net