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  • From: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] "Mizan el zan" in Ps. 144:13
  • Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 07:05:45 +0300

Dear Isaac,

If so, what does the noun "zan" mean? A container of some sort? How does this explain the verse?


BTW, you call us all "b-listim". I'm sure you're aware of the meaning of "listim" in mishnaic Hebrew? Any hidden meanings here? : -)



Yigal Levin



----- Original Message ----- From: "Isaac Fried" <if AT math.bu.edu>
To: "b-hebrew Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Cc: "b-hebrew Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 6:32 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] "Mizan el zan" in Ps. 144:13


b-listim

The Hebrew root ZN is a variant of CN and TN. The root CN is doubled
in CINCENET (the closing T is the personal pronoun AT), 'jar, basket,
urn, pot, sack', see Exodus 16:33. From the root TN Hebrew derives
the word TENE), 'basket, bag', see Deuteronomy 26:2.

Isaac Fried, Boston University


On 8/23/07, Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il> wrote:
Dear all,

Ps. 144:13a reads "Our larders are full, producing 'mizan el
zan'". This is my translation, attempting to render the Hebrew as
literally as possible.

I know that the precise translation of the word that I rendered
"larders" is disputed, but I want to focus on the second part. The
word "zan" appears only in this phrase, and maybe in 2 Chr. 16:14
(although I'm not convinced that it's the same word). Most
translations understand the word "zan" as "kind" or "sort". Many
commentaries cite "zan" here (and in 2 Chr. 16:14) as either an
Aramaic or a Persian loanword. Indeed, in the targumim, "zan" is
the common translation of the Hebrew word "min" - "species" (for
instance, in Gen. 1:11 etc.). And so the unique phrase "mizan el
zan" is understood literally "from kind to kind" and rendered "of
all kinds" and the like.

Accordingly, the verse is usually translated "That our garners may
be full, affording all manner of store" (KJV); "May our barns be
filled, with produce of every kind" (NRSV); "Our barns will be
filled with every kind of provision" (NIV) and the like.

However, the LXX does not. There, "mizan el zan" is rendered "ek
toutou eis touto", apparently preserving a Hebrew "mizeh el-zeh" -
"from this to that" or "from here to there".

In the MT, the verse seems incomplete - the translations added the
word "store", "provisions" and the like, but it's not there in the
Hebrew.

Finally, my questions:

1. Does anyone know of an Old Persian word "zan" or the like, that
could have been borrowed by the Hebrew and the Aramaic as "species"?

2. Is there any other indication (presumably linguistic) that this
psalm is late enough for such borrowing to have happened?

3. In any case, how do y'all explain the syntax of the Hebrew?


Much thanks,

Yigal Levin

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