Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yohanan bin-Dawidh" <yohanan.bin.dawidh AT gmail.com>]

Shalom l'kulam:

Since Pesakh and Hag HaMatsoth are soon to be upon us, I wanted to discuss
the Hebrew word "yayin" as found in Sefer Shemoth (Exodus) 29:40. And then
the use of the same word found in Sefer Bamidbar (Numbers) 6:3, which uses
"yayin" alone and then with the Hebrew "khomets" to form "khomets yayin".

According to the medieval-Karaite scholar, Dawidh bin-Avraham al-Fasi , in
his Kitab Jami' al-Alfaz, we find that "khomets" is anything that has
soured. Items that have soured would be things such as leaven (itself),
wine, vinegar, and a few oats such as wheat, spelt, barley, oats, rye,
millet (which can readily become sour). We also have the term "se'or" to
deal with, which al-Fasi defines as being any mixture that has become
fermented, such sourdough starter. And then we contend with the word
"mahmeset"  which according al-Fasi is a mixture of "khomets" or "se'or"
with another item.

My interest in this study, and your opinios truly lies with "yayin", for
traditionally this word has been understood to be wine; however, in Sefer
Bamidbar 6:3 we see the use of "khomets yayin", which some translate as
"vinegar of wine", but could easily be seen as "soured yayin", i.e. "wine",
especially if we look at other Semitic variants of the Hebrew word
"yayin" such as "yin" (in Ugaritic); "wayin" (in Arabic); and "inu" (in
Akkadian).The Arabic variant holds the meaning of "black grape, which could
suggest that "yayin" is merely a type of grape. But then there is the
argument that "yayin" stems from the Hebrew verb "yayan" which means  "to
boil up" or "to ferment"

Thoughts and ideas please?

Yohanan bin-Dawidh