Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>]

Søren:

(LMH (also (LM in 1 Samuel 17, 20) when referring to a person indicates that 
the person is unknown. The root (LM has the meaning of being unknown, in 
hiphil the causitive meaning, i.e. to hide.

When taken in the context of Genesis 4:1 (in American English that same 
wording was still used when I was young), the “unknown one” is by necessity a 
virgin, making (LMH the technical term for “virgin”. Either that, or the term 
refers to a stranger.

(I think the term’s use in Proverbs 30:10 refers to “the unknown”, not a 
person. The only arguments presented that I have seen that it refers to a 
person are not linguistic, but tradition. Hence I find them unconvincing.)

If the present copies of the LXX are accurate copies of the original, then 
the LXX translated Isaiah 7:14 as “virgin”, i.e. before the NT interpretation.

I am not going to argue the theological implications of this verse (e.g. some 
say that the virgin to whom Isaiah referred, was one standing near to Isaiah 
at the time he made the statement, with no expectation that she remained a 
virgin until after the birth of the child), but as a linguist, I see no good 
argument that (LMH was not the technical term for “virgin”, more so than 
BTWLH.

Karl W. Randolph.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Søren Holst" <sh AT teol.ku.dk>

> 
> Eugene,
> 
> Sorry if this sounds arrogant, but as far as I can see, there isn't 
> really any "issue" as far as the text is concerned: Hebrew "'almah" 
> means a young woman, and since young women may be virgins (if 
> unmarried, they ought to, in traditional society like that 
> reflected in the Bible), it may easily be used of a virgin, but it 
> does not "mean" virgin (as opposed to a young woman who has had 
> sexual intercourse), and there's an end of the issue.
> 
> ...
> 
> sincerely
> Soren, Copenhagen
-- 
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