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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] The Pesach prohibition - baked, not leavened bread

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  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] The Pesach prohibition - baked, not leavened bread
  • Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2006 10:20:23 -0500

Vadim Cherny wrote:

When you say that hmtz refers to souring, that's merely a presumption. The
root cells hm-mtz are distinct in other words - hemer, matzot, lehem. That
cannot be a coincidence.


HH: I guess you never bought a good Bible dictionary for Hebrew as I asked you to do. The word has that meaning of sour or acidic in post-biblical Hebrew. There are related cognates with that meaning in Arabic and Aramaic. Other languages mentioned with such cognates include Akkadian, Egyptian, Ethiopic, Tigre, and Syriac. A related word means "salt" in Coptic.


The translation "leaven" doesn't square with several other instances I
enumerated in the original post. Particularly, Hos7:4 about bad baker who
ceases to watch the dough until it becomes hmtz in hot oven. The
conventional translational "leavened" is absurd. Dough does not leaven in
hot oven, but is baked.

HH: Perhaps this is the source of your problem. The verse does not say that the bread is in the oven. It simply says there is no need to heat the oven while the bread is getting ready to bake. One does not knead the dough while it is in the oven either.


Yours,
Harold Holmyard




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