Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Lewis Reich <lbr AT sprynet.com>]

It has always seemed to me that the the meaning of Mis(.)rayim is indeed a 
dual, but not the upper and lower Egypt dual.  It seems to make sense to me 
when read in conjunction with the meaning of s(.)r as "narrow."  (See, e.g. 
the last word in Lamentations 1:4 "rodfeha hisiguha bayn ha-ms(.)arim" - "her 
pursuers have overtaken her between the narrows.") "Mis(.)rayim" seems to 
make a great deal of sense as "the dual narrows" - the two narrow strips of 
fertile inhabitable land on either side of the Nile.  "Misr" might 
conceivably denote "the narrow" - the narrow fertile Nile valley.

Lewis Reich 

-----Original Message-----
>From: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
>Sent: Mar 22, 2007 4:23 AM
>To: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
>Cc: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
>Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Mis(.)rayim
>
>Yigal,
>
>OK, but what is then this Misr- part of Misrayim (as you prefer to  
>spell it)? Is it Hebrew? Is it meaningful? Is it ancient Egyptian?  
>Does it mean mistress?
>
>Isaac Fried, Boston University
>
>On Mar 22, 2007, at 3:40 AM, Yigal Levin wrote:
>
>> Isaac,
>>
>> The reason that the "double" ending of the biblical word Misrayim  
>> is assumed
>> to reffer to upper and lower Egypt is because there is plenty of
>> documentation that the Egyptians themselves considered their  
>> country to be a
>> union of "the two lands". The differences between the two are very  
>> real:
>> Upper Egypt is a narrow strip of watered land on either sides of  
>> the Nile,
>> cut off from the rest of the world by the great deserts to the east  
>> and the
>> west, developing (pretty much) its culture in isolation. Lower  
>> Egypt is the
>> flat, wide-open and expansive Nile Delta, open to the sea and to  
>> the major
>> trade routes connecting it to Asia. The Egyptians realy did  
>> consider these
>> to be two separate lands, united in the person on the Pharaoh,  
>> "master of
>> the two mistresses". Think of England and Scotland.
>>
>> Yigal Levin
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Isaac Fried" <if AT math.bu.edu>
>> To: "Uri Hurwitz" <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>
>> Cc: "b-hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
>> Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 9:20 AM
>> Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Mis(.)rayim
>>
>>
>>> Uri,
>>>
>>> You are right---who knows. I am only suggesting an obvious
>>> possibility. Look at the map and you will see that Egypt is indeed
>>> just two narrow and long strips of land along the Nile. It is not
>>> clear to me why my etymology should be more "far fetched" than yours.
>>> It appears to me that the name of a country (in the ancient sense of
>>> the word, not in the modern geopolitical sense as drawn on a map),
>>> who knows how old,  is likelier  to be derived from a permanent and
>>> apparent geographical feature of the terrain rather than from a
>>> transient political system. Isn't the ancient Egyptian symbol for a
>>> foreign country a wavy landscape? I really do not know why the
>>> present Arabic name of Egypt---originally the land of the Copts =
>>> Egopts, is MISR.
>>>
>>> Isaac Fried, Boston University
>>>
>>> On Mar 21, 2007, at 8:27 PM, Uri Hurwitz wrote:
>>>
>>>> Isaac Fried if at math.bu.edu
>>>> Wed Mar 21 17:46:56 EST 2007
>>>> Previous message: [b-hebrew] Kush - and Mis(.)rayim
>>>>    Dear Isaac,
>>>>
>>>>   The fact of the two Egypts was well recgonized  by the ancient
>>>> Egyptian
>>>>  themselves, and marked in various ways.
>>>>
>>>>   As for your suggestion, do you mean the green, culivated strips
>>>> on the shores of the Nile?   A bit far fetched, - but who knows?
>>>> And besides, how does one explain the Arabic name, identical to the
>>>> Heb., but in the singular.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>   Uri,
>>>>
>>>> Or in reference to the two narrow (CARIM) strips along the Nile.
>>>>
>>>> Isaac Fried, Boston University
>>>>
>>>> Don't get soaked. Take a quick peek at the forecast
>>>> with theYahoo! Search weather shortcut.
>>>
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>>>
>>>
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>>
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Lew Reich
lbreich AT alum.mit.edu