Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Dear all,

The word "hed" appears only in Ezekiel 7:7 - the "hed" of the mountains. Most 
English translations have "joyful shouting" or such like, probably assuming a 
connection to "hedad" (which appears only in Isaiah). 

In modern Hebrew, this word is used for "echo" - which makes sense: the 
"sound" of the mountains". However, is this just a modern Hebrew adaptation? 
Or is it based on ANE cognates or ancient translation traditions? If the 
latter, that is, the word did originally mean "echo", what is its etymology? 
Is it onomatapoeic, based on the sound of echoing?. 

Thanks

Yigal Levin