Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Marko,

>As for the GKC, the nearest copy may well be about three hours' flight
>away, so could perhaps offer a brief summary?

The form  MGDWN in Zch 12:11 differs from the standard form for Megiddo by
adding the final N. I was assuming that it was that difference that led the
LXX translator to try and translate it rather than simply giving the name
Megiddo. Although the LXX spells the name a variety of ways, elsewhere it
always gives a proper name that corresponds to the Hebrew proper name. But
GKC 85v says that a large number of proper names now ending in H or W with
a holem dot used to be classed as nouns originally formed with the affix WN
with a holem dot on W. The subsequent rejection of the final Nun seemed to
be confirmed by the form MGDWN, once used (Zch 12:11) for MGDW (and
conversely in Pr 27:20 Kethiv )BDH Qere )BDW for )BDWN "destruction), also
by the fact that for $LMH the LXX give the form SOLWMWN or SALWMWN, and
especially that in patronymics and tribal names a Nun appears before the
termination I, as in GYLNY ("Gilonite") from GLG and $YLNY from $YLH
(modern name SAILUN). Wetzstein, however . . .explained the Nun in MGDWN as
a secondary addition to the common old-Palestinian termination O (Jericho,
Acco, Rimmono, etc.) and Barth has since shown the unsoundness of the
prevailing view on other grounds: the rejection of the Nun would be much
more likely to occur in the numerous appellatives in ON than in proper
names, and GYLNY and $YLNY are due to the necessity of avoiding, for
euphonic reasons, such forms as giylo-i, shiylo-i, etc.

HH: Anyway, the GKC section assumes that MGDWN is just a longer form of
Megiddo. I might add that in Rev 16:16 one reads:

Rev. 16:16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew
tongue Armageddon.

The Greek is hARMAGEDWN, which I have understood to be "hill/mount
Megiddo." Since it is said to be a representation in Greek of the Hebrew.
it seems that the Hebrew form would be the longer form with N. This would
seem to corroborate the form in Zech 12:11.

                                        Yours,
                                        Harold Holmyard