Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Actually, Karl, "Abib" as used in P and D seems to be less the name of a
month than of a season. Literally, Abib means "ripened barley" (cf. Ex. 9:31
and Lev. 2:14), and so literally, "keep the Passover in the month in which
the barley ripens". This, of course, is because of the connection between
the Passover and the Omer, the offering of the first grain harvest. Since
this "month of harvest" became the first month of the year, "Abib" became
the actual name of the first month - the Babylonian Nisan.

In later Hebrew, BTW, when "Aviv" was no longer used as the name of a month,
it became the name of the spring season - as well as that of my youngest
son, who was actually born at the end of Adar.

Yigal
----- Original Message -----
From: "Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>
To: "Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2004 3:05 AM
Subject: Re: Hebrew month names, was [b-hebrew] Thera quote


> Marianne:
>
> True, the only month I’ve found named in Torah was )BYB [Exodus 13:4,
23:15, 34:18 Leviticus 2:14 Deuteronomy 16:1 ]. However, the month of ZW was
mentioned in 1 Kings 6:1, )TNYM in 1 Kings 8:2 and BWL in 1 Kings 6:28
showing that the Hebrew months had names that were forgotten during the
Babylonian Exile. That they were named shows that the names were in use.
>
> Karl W. Randolph.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: MarianneLuban AT aol.com
>
> > In a message dated 8/27/2004 2:09:29 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
> > kwrandolph AT email.com writes:
> >
> >
> > > What did Josephus know about the Hebrew calandar? We have indication
that
> > > it had ceased to be used 500 years before Josephus. Even in Tanakh,
the
> > > post-exilic writings named the months according to Aramaic names,
indicating that
> > > the Hebrew calandar was already then not being used, let alone
centuries
> > > later. That will also explain why for your claim that most historical
mentions of
> > > Hebrew religious feasts don’t coincide with the first and seventh
months.
> >
> > This is easily answered.  The Torah does not mention any months by
> > names--only numbers, just as the ancient Egyptians did until quite late.
However,
> > Josephus can have known that the month once known by a number came to be
called
> > "Pharmouti" and the new calendar of the Hebrews, which was both a lunar
and a
> > solar one, had a month with a number that later came to be called
"Nisan".
> > "Aviv" perhaps refers to the spring soltice, although I have nothing
firm to say
> > about that subject.
> --
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