Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Stoney Breyer" <stoney AT touchwood.net>]

Jacob and David spring to mind as characters who seem to lose their
youthful sharpness.

Stoney Breyer
Writer
Touchwood, Inc.
314 421-9878
 

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Daryl F.
Jefferies
Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2003 3:17 PM
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] words for fool

Yigal,

The "senility" comment was in reference to Jim's original post (an 
attempt at humor), i.e.,
>  > im slipping into senility and can only recall 3 words normally used
in
>  > proverbs for fool- letz, kesil, and pethi.  what am i forgetting?

But since you mentioned it, is there no recognition of the slipping 
of faculties with age in the HB?  The DSS take into account the loss 
of abilities as people age.  Maybe someone on the list has looked 
into biblical attitudes towards aging...

Daryl Jefferies


>At 02:52 PM 3/19/2003 -0600, Daryl F. Jefferies wrote:
>>Jim,
>>
>>M.V. Fox lists "...in a continuum from ingrained moral defect and
>>unchangeability to relative innocence and improvability": 'ewil,
>>letz, kesil, hasar leb, ba'ar, and peti (Anchor Bible, Prov. 1-9, pp.
>>38-39).  I'm not sure which one is used for senility...
>>
>
>Actually, none. "Senility" comes from the Latin and means "old age". In
>Hebrew (as in other ANE cultures), age (ziqnah) was taken for wisdom,
not
>foolishness or forgetfulness. Modern Hebrew was forced to adopt the
English
>(pronounced "seniliyut").
>
>Yigal
>
>
>Dr. Yigal Levin
>Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
>University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
>615 McCallie Avenue
>Chattanooga TN 37403-2598
>U.S.A.
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