Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <Yigal-Levin AT utc.edu>]

At 01:42 AM 6/3/2003 -0500, Karl Randolph wrote:
>Dear Yigal:
>
>How late is “later Hebrew”?
>
In the Mishnah, but I don't have the refference right now. The Medieval and
modern form (taken from the Aramaic) is "Nedunia".


>The only other use of “nedan” in Tenakh is in 1 Chronicles 21:27, where it
means ‘sheath’ (vagina in Latin).

But having no sexual connotation - once again, just a sheath for a sword. I
don't know if the two are connected.

>
>As for “nedah”, does it not come from the root meaning to eject, expel?
>

No. That's Niddah, a different word. And even that simply means "cast
aside", and refers to a woman's STATE during menstruation, not to the
actual menstrual fluid. It is NEVER used for semen.

>Thus it appears so me that the red faces as per my original posting led to
a change in the meaning of the Hebrew words.
>

As I said, I think that this time you're chasing shadows.


Yigal

>Yours, Karl W. Randolph.
>
>> Hi Karl,
>> 
>> While I would have no problem with Ezekiel using "dirty" language, in this
>> case, "nedah"/"nedan" really DOES just mean "gift" - in later Hebrew, this
>> became the word for "dowry" or "bridal gift". This fits the context
>> perfectly. Sometimes a rose is just a rose.
>> 
>> Yigal
>> 
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Dr. Yigal Levin
Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga TN 37403-2598
U.S.A.