Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Brandon M Cherry <pentewyn AT juno.com>]

> From: "Trevor Peterson" <06peterson AT cua.edu>
> Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] Other languages in the Tanakh
> To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID: <001c01c3a853$d5237ad0$179cfea9@SPEDRSON>
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> 
> This is a difficult question to answer, partly because words from 
> other
> languages can come into a text by various means. Is a true loanword
> considered an instance of a foreign language in a text, or does 
> that
> word now belong to the language in which it is found? Even the idea 
> that
> a proper noun is a foreign word has problems. I used to work in
> Cheektowaga, NY. It's not a word that originates in English, but I 
> have
> no idea how accurately it represents the Native American term. 
> Plus,
> that's the only name by which any English speaker calls the town, so 
> in
> that respect, it's an English name. I would say all of these things 
> are
> different from what we see with Aramaic, where the language is 
> fully
> used to write significant portions of the biblical text.
> 
> Trevor Peterson
> CUA/Semitics

True enough. I hadn't really considered how complex the answers to my
questions could be. I'm sure many trees have been sacrificed for the
study of how loanwords immigrate and become "naturalized." Maybe a better
way to state what I'm looking for is What languages can be *readily*
shown to have influenced the text or contributed vocabulary outside of
Hebrew and Aramaic?

Brandon Cherry, M.Div.
Waco, TX  USA

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