Biblical Hebrew Forum

[<tladatsi AT charter.net>]

Not the same lexeme?

The OT is quite clear that the nation of ?DM is supposed to 
be named after Esau s nickname ?DM (Gen 36:1 and 36:8).  
For this to be true, the two words would have to be the 
exact same lexeme.  Esau s nickname was given to him 
because he asked his brother for a bowl of ?DM (Gen 25:30).  
There seems no way to me for someone to be named after a 
bowl of red stew and that name not being the same lexeme as 
the red stew. Three of these words are unquestionable the 
same lexeme, each being a link in a chain of thing being 
named after each other, all of which are red. The only 
questionable word is ?DMNY which is universally translated 
in ancient times and modern as red, reddish, or ruddy 
(e.g., LXX purrakhv, Vulg. rufus).   The core concept of 
redness and the clear link to a common grammatical root 
makes a very strong case for these four words being the 
same lexeme.  (Some might argue that the name of the nation 
Edom really is derived from the color of the countryside.  
Most of the Trans-Jordanian country is the color of the 
infield of baseball field, the red color of brick. It is an 
iron oxide thing.  However that is neither here nor there).

Not a pun?

Esau is born ?DMNY and in turn give birth to a nation 
called ?DM.   Esau asked Jacob / Israel for ?DM and 
received it in exchange for his birthright.  Thus his 
descendants received from him the country called ?DM 
(instead of the land of Canaan which Israel received) 
because Esau asked for ?DM from Israel  Of course, the 
older nation of Edom was conquered by the younger nation of 
Israel as the older brother Esau / Edom lost his birthright 
to the younger brother Jacob / Israel.

Puns with political punch proliferate profusely.

These are not the only puns in Ex. 25, although the only 
one which is based on a single lexeme.  Esau is also born 
S?R, hairy.  His descendents lived in the land of S?YR.  
These are clearly not the same lexeme but a phonetically 
based pun.


Jack Tladatsi