Biblical Hebrew Forum

["B. M. Rocine" <brocine AT twcny.rr.com>]

Hi Peter,

Peter Kirk wrote:
> On 22/11/2005 02:08, B. M. Rocine wrote:
>
> > ...
> >
> > Do you mean that readers of the Bible cannot look up words with which 
> > they are unfamiliar?  Bohu hardly seems to have been a familiar Hebrew 
> > word.
> >
> >  
> Not all Bible readers have good dictionaries (and this sense of "welter" 
> isn't in bad ones). They certainly don't carry them with them wherever 
> they take their Bibles or hear them read. Does your congregation? Would 
> they understand this translation if it was read out to them?

Judge the diction against the targetted audience.  It is not he kind of 
Bible you take to church.  It is big, thick, expensive, and a third or 
more of the book is commentary.  Is all of this a clue to what the book 
is about?  It is a translation for a pretty educated crowd, the kind 
that would be intrigued with "welter" and willing to look it up if they 
have to.

Alter's notes on vv. 1-3 include comments on _tohu wabohu_, "hovering," 
and _ruax_, which he admits may be translated, "breath, wind, spirit."

> As for the familiarity of Hebrew bohu, we have no way of judging that. 
> Even though it is rare in the Bible, it may have been a very familiar 
> colloquial word. It seems highly probable that at least the narrative 
> parts of the Hebrew Bible were written with ordinary words which would 
> have been understood by any Hebrew speaker. 

As for whether all the words in narrative parts of the Bible are 
familiar words, we have no way of judging that.  ;-)

We *have* a way of judging whether _bohu_ is unfamiliar.  It has an 
elusive etymology.  It only appear three times in the Bible, always in 
conjunction with the more familiar word tohu, and twice as a veritable 
allusions to the first in Gen. 1:2.  It rhymes with _tohu_.  Alter's 
suggestion that _bohu_ may be a "nonce word coined to rhyme with 
[_tohu_]" seems plausible.  I don't say *probable*; plausible.

Shalom,
Bryan

The total number of
> different words is well within the passive vocabulary of native speakers 
> of any language - and I am not sure how else we might judge such things.


--
B. M. Rocine
Living Word Church
6101 Court St. Rd.
Syracuse, NY 13026
(W): 315.437.6744