Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>]

I can’t read your Hebrew, but I get the gist of what you are saying.  
I agree that ENOSH as used in the latter books means ‘man’, in the  
same way that I agree that SHET means ‘buttocks’. Biblical names  
are not what they seem to be, and this appears to me to be the reason  
the Bible spends so much time trying to explain their etymology,  
starting with ADAM and EVE.
The Rambam (as well as Rashi) see clearly the challenge of connecting  
the facts of SHET calling his son ENOSH, and men starting to call  
(what or why?) by (in?) the name of God.
BDB is good as translator, but I find his etymologies whimsical.
Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Jan 21, 2007, at 11:36 PM, Tory Thorpe wrote:

> I didn't know our אורים ותומים  
> have been found. But BDB, admittedly not as authoritative, does  
> list the cognates in the Arabic, Aramaic, Palmyrene, etc. These are  
> all consistent with Enosh meaning men, man, or mankind; and the  
> Rambam in Hil. Avodas Kochavim 1:1-2 explains that Enosh in Gen.  
> 4:26 was so named due to the idolatry that became rampant among  
> **men** at this time.
>
> Tory Thorpe
>
>
> Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu> wrote:
> The interpretation of the name ENOSH as ‘man’ comes  
> from two
> sources: first, from the plural ×× ×©×™× (ANASHIM) â 
> €˜men’ of
> איש (ISH) ‘man’, and × ×©×™×  
> (NASHIM), ‘women’ of אשה
> (ISHA) ‘woman’, and second from the root ×× ×©  
> (ANASH) ‘to be
> weak'. Thus, ENOSH of Isaiah 13:12 is not necessarily ENOSH of
> Genesis 4:26, the same way that SHET of Genesis 4:26 is not the same
> as SHET 'buttocks' of Isaiah 20:4. As far as BDB is concerned, it is
> not our אורים ותומים.
> Isaac Fried, Boston University