Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

George,

My reasoning is based on the following assumptions:

1. Every Biblical name is meaningful and has an inherent etymology.  
In fact, the Bible itself spends an inordinate amount of time on the  
etymology of its names, starting with those of our forebears ADAM and  
XAVA.

2. At times these etymologies are obscure, and at times these  
etymologies are clear, or at least they appear to be so. It stands to  
reason that the name of a country is descriptive of a prominent  
feature of the land, say the "land of the two rivers".   I think that  
the name MICRAIM, Egypt, for instance, originates in the Hebrew Root  
CR, 'narrow', with the dual referring to the two narrow strips of  
inhabited land along the Nile. I may be right, or I may be wrong, but  
I am being surely reasonable.

3.   The letters G-X-K-Q, B-F-P-W, C-S-$-Z are designed to shift in  
Hebrew (biblical and post-biblical) to vary and enrich its root stock  
by slight shifts of meaning. Consider for instance such root families  
as: GFF-XFF-KFF, GZZ-XCC-QSS-KCC-K$$, GLL-XLL-QLL-KLL, KSH-Q$H, GZM- 
QSM, KR)-QR), SGR-SKR, and so on. Vowel shifts are also used for this  
purpose, for instance, KOS=KIS, OR=UR, and so on. Hence my argument  
that GUSH = KUSH (=GUC), and GOSHEN=GUSHEN=KUSHEN. We are pretty sure  
that KUSH is a mountainous (GUSHI) region. We are also being told  
that Moses took a native woman for wife, and she was a KUSHIT (one  
may of course argue that she was an immigrant or a slave etc, etc.)  
So why, one may ask, did the Bible not use GUSH in the first place? I  
think in order to slightly deceive the eye and the ear. A good  
example for such phonetic trickery is the pair ZIB-ZIV.

4. I know that common wisdom places the land of GOSHEN somewhere in  
the Nile delta, but as far as I know there in no scientific evidence  
whatsoever for this location. The geography of the bible is vague,  
imprecise, and often downright misleading due to its use of generic  
names like KUSH.

Isaac Fried, Boston University


On Mar 21, 2007, at 8:32 PM, George Athas wrote:

> Hi Isaac!
>
> > It appears to me that KUSH is but a variant of GUSH, 'clod, lump,
> > mass' (see Job 7:5), and may thus refer to any mountainous region...
>
> What exactly is the connection that brings KUSH and GUSH together? The
> reasoning here appears to me to be somewhat random.
>
>
> > I believe the land of Goshen (=Gushen?) to be likewise situated in a
> > mountainous area.
>
> Actually, conventional wisdom says quite the opposite. Goshen is  
> generally
> identified as a region in the N/E Nile Delta region -- very flat land.
>
>
> Best Regards,
>
> GEORGE ATHAS
> Moore Theological College (Sydney)
> 1 King St, Newtown, NSW 2042, Australia
> Ph: (+61 2) 9577 9774
>
>
>
>
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