Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Herman Meester" <crazymulgogi AT gmail.com>]

2006/5/26, Kevin Riley <klriley AT alphalink.com.au>:

I know that both 'ayin [presumably reflected in "Oumran"] and /g/ [Goumran]
> are common pronunciations of /q/ in Arabic dialects, but how does he get
> both as reflexes of an earlier ghayin?  Presumably a preserved Hebrew
> ghayin' whould pass into Arabic unchanged.  If 'Goumran' is meant to start
> with 'ghayin', why would it become /q/?
>
> As I said before, from a linguistic point of view the whole Qumran <~>
G(h)omorra thing is highly unlikely, speculative at most, simply because if
Qumran had ever been identified with Gomorra we would have heard of that
legend from inhabitants of Palestine themselves, not from someone of the
Western European clergy with a lot of things of the theological kind in his
head which he has read in books. There are plenty Christians in
Palestine/Eretz Yisrael, why would they keep such a legend for themselves?
Biblical site/Holy Land tourism has been an industry in Palestine for
centuries, if not ever since Christianity became the dominant religion in
the Roman Empire.
More simply, it is phonologically unsound to suggest such a link. I would
have no idea where the /q/ comes from; language is about rules, and if
Hebrew gh doesn't usually correspond with Arabic /q/ (rather with /gh/), why
would it here? Ending -aan is mystifying too, and Arabic bible translations
render Gomorra `Amuura. (long vowel uu instead of vowel absence). Which,
admittedly, may be just academic practice, but does not betray anything
qumranesque. I haven't found Gomorra in the Qur'an yet, there are various
references to Lot, but no interest in the name (`Amuura?/) Gomorra.
regards,
Herman