Biblical Hebrew Forum

[MarianneLuban AT aol.com]

In a message dated 8/26/2004 2:58:05 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
peterkirk AT qaya.org writes:


> >>
> >> I am not tossing any missiles.  I just gave views.  The Bible 
> >> dictionary in which I looked up "Pu'ah" was compiled by James P. 
> >> Boyd, hopefully an expert.  He treats the Pu'ah of Exodus and the 
> >> Puah of Judges as the same name. ...
> >>
> >
> > This is sufficient to prove that he is not an expert, indeed that he 
> > hasn't even looked at the Hebrew text. You don't get scholarship for 
> > $3.99 (which I found it offered for); that's the price of a reprint of 
> > a second rate 19th century work (although I wasn't actually able to 
> > confirm that this is the original date of this work).
> 
> 
> I found the following on the Internet:
> 
> > The Self-Pronouncing Bible Dictionary, by James P. Boyd (copyright 1896)
> 
> 
> > The Peoples Pocket Dictionary of the Holy Bible as Every Day Companion 
> > for Teachers and Readers of the Scriptures
> > Boyd, James P.
> > ... L.W. Walter Company 1878. 
> 
> and the same title
> 
> > Philadelphia and Chicago: P.W. Ziegler & Co. 1888.
> 
> 
> I guess what you have is a reprint of one or other of these. Prices at 
> abebooks start at just $1.
> 
> 
> 
An old book selling cheap is no indication that the author doesn't know what 
he's doing.  "Self pronouncing" has nothing to do with the meanings of the 
names in Boyd's book, most of which seem reasonable and even standard.  But, 
if 
Pu'ah and Puah are both Semitic names, the presence of the ayin makes a 
difference, of course. (And a previous poster is correct--I should have 
checked in my 
Hebrew Bible and actually looked at the writings instead of relying on anyone 
else.)   If all this is in aid of demonstrating that I am no proficient 
scholar of Biblical Hebrew, then you are too late.  I already admitted that 
days 
ago.  I have several modern Hebrew dictionaries here and this one by 
Boyd--but 
that is about it.  Biblical Hebrew is not my area--although I find it 
interesting, as I do all languages and their evolutions.  But here is 
something in 
which I am very interested--Semitic terms in ancient Egyptian texts, so 
reading 
the linguistic posts here is enjoyable.  Period.  So why not give it a rest?  
I 
have an old book I wrote selling on Amazon.com (not by me) for only a few 
dollars--used.  Perhaps even less than a buck in some cases.  But this book 
was 
nominated for a prize in the state in which it was published.  So "cheap" is 
not 
synonymous for "worthless".