Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Peter Kirk" <peter.r.kirk AT ntlworld.com>]

Interesting question, Karl. For what it's worth, BDB mentions a "Syr.Pa."
cognate meaning "*move gently*, also *cherish* and *brood*".

I wonder if the problem with "hover" is that it has changed its meaning.
Before the days of helicopters and hovercraft, what did hover? Nothing
larger than an insect or a humming-bird could actually stay stationary in
the air. My dictionary gives the Late Middle English sense "(Of a bird, esp.
a hawk etc., or an insect) hang or remain suspended in the air by rapidly
beating the wings; hang in the air with a wavering or fluttering movement.
(Foll. by over, about.) LME."  - but can a hawk actually do this? If older
translators had no problem using the word of an eagle, I presume that to
them "hover" could include an eagle flying round in circles above its nest,
with minimal wing movement. And if that is not the meaning in Deut 32:11,
what is the meaning there?

Peter Kirk
peter.r.kirk AT ntlworld.com
http://web.onetel.net.uk/~peterkirk/
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-hebrew-
> bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Karl Randolph
> Sent: 25 May 2003 09:24
> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [b-hebrew] Genesis 1:2 rachap
> 
> To All:
> 
> This verb is used all of three times in Tenakh. I have been told that it
> means to hover, or even to flutter, where does that meaning come from? Is
> there a cognate language that elucidates its meaning?
> 
> It is used here of "God's Spirit", in Deuteronomy 32:11 of an eagle (a
big,
> heavy bird that neither hovers nor flutters) and in Jeremiah 23:9 where it
> is used in connection with bones (again which neither hover nor flutter).
> My experience from other languages is to look for one meaning that could
> encompass all three uses, can it be done here?
> 
> Thanks again for the comments from last question.
> 
> Yours, Karl W. Randolph.