Biblical Hebrew Forum

[MarianneLuban AT aol.com]

I am busy with the Samaritan chronicles right now and want to ask about 
something.  I came across a Samaritan ketubah in which the bridegroom was 
described, among other things, as "baHr karnaim" (the Samaritans actually 
pronounce the 
first as "bakur"--but their dialect is another matter).  The footnote stated 
that the scribe had probably made an error for "kohanim"--but I find this 
rather spurious.  The Samaritans, being led since the collapse of the 
Israelite 
kingdom by a series of High Priests, are very conscious of their kohanim.  
Ever 
since the time of Moses, they had a high priest from the line of Eleazar, but 
this line died out at some point in the Middle Ages and then the Levites took 
over, a situation that prevails to this very day.
Anyway, don't we encounter this "karnaim" business in connection with Moses?  
Moses, one supposes, didn't actually have horns and any Samaritan capable of 
writing a ketubah is not going to be ignorant of how to spell "kohanim".  
Anyone have any ideas about this "karnaim" matter?