Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>]

The term Habiru, or in its logographic form SA.GAZ ,appears in cuneiform much 
earlier (than in Egytptian according to Marianne Luban see below ), from the 
twentieth century BCE. The letter H in the beginning of the word in 
non-scholastic texts in English refers to a sign that is used for two 
consonants in cuneiform: the Ayin and the Cha;  the system simply did not 
have a separate sign for these two consonants.
The term appears also in Ugaritic , -- (prm  -- with an Ayin as a first 
letter just as in Egyptian and througthout the ANE.
 
As for the exact meaning and the etymology of the term,opinions are divided, 
though in many contexts it seems to be "bandits, nomads" and so forth. 
Certainly so in the Amarna letters.
 
 
Jonathan D. Safren" <yonsaf AT beitberl.ac.il> wrote: 


1) Habiru would be 'ober in Hebrew because of the Canaanite shift, and not
'ibri

Not according to Th. Meek:  The term  'ibri without gentilic ending is found 
in the PN Eber"....which manifestly goes back to an earlier from 
'abir(u)......in cuneiform is h(_)biru..."    


MarianneLuban AT aol.com wrote:



"The history of the word "apiru", insofar as I know, is thus: Insofar as I 
know, it is first seen in Egyptian texts from the 13th Dynasty (ca. 1745 BCE) 
..." 

 

"... the name "Abdul" ..."  --- BTW there's no such name: it is the word/name 
ABD plus the aricle Al.... which never stands alone in Arabic. The Alif drops 
out in a construct chain.

Uri


                
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Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] qedem
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Kirk" <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
To: "Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
Cc: "b-hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2004 10:41 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] qedem


> On 24/07/2004 21:25, Yigal Levin wrote:
>
> >Yes. A similar term is LPNY "liphney" - literally "in the face of...",
> >meaning both "in front of" and and "previous to". As a geographic term,
"Al
> >peney", "facing", can mean "east of", but also just "across from". In
> >Aramaic, the root QDM has many of the same meanings as LPNY in Hebrew.
> >
> >
> >
> Well, not quite what I mean unless LPNY can also mean "in front of" in a
> *temporal* sense. Can it? Well, apparently it can in Deuteronomy 30:15
> (cf. vv.1,19) and Jeremiah 21:8 where the reference is to the
> Israelites' future life or death. But the link is clearly here to God's
> laws which are commonly said to be LPNY the Israelites, but not in a
> temporal sense. So the best we can say is that this future reference
> sense of LPNY is marginal, in biblical Hebrew. Is that fair?
>
>
> --
> Peter Kirk

You're probably right, but I wouldn't expect a 100% similarity in semantic
range. You were looking for ambiguity - and it certainly is there.

Yigal