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  • From: <pporta AT oham.net>
  • To: <JimStinehart AT aol.com>, <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] "Sary" vs. "sary"
  • Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:46:23 +0100

Are you sure, Jim, of what you're telling?
The "sary" of Pharaoh are not "sary" but "sarEy". Why do you take no account of the vowels?
You are speaking of two plural forms of the noun "sar". And you don't write even a word about the "construct"... "sary" (as you spell it) is a plural construct... "sary" is not essentially different from "sarim".
Now, the name of Abraham's wife is "Saray" or "Sarai" and not Sary.
You say (if I understand you rightly) that the vowels of Saray are something odd.

Something odd? Look at Isa 10:8 (fourth word) where we find "saray", my chiefs, my rulers, my princes.
So, from a strict litteral viewpoint "Saray" o "Sarai" means "my princes" (and not "my princess") -- a single letter s versus a double ss. It is just the fourth word in Is 10:8.

Sincerely, I think you are not on the good path at making this kind of wordplays...
And I'm not writing these words as offensive to you, please! Maybe in a given case --or even in more than one-- this kind of wordplay would make sense. Maybe.
But not in your actual mail. This is my humble opinion and I wish to share it with you and other listers.

Heartly,

Pere Porta
Barcelona (Spain)




----- Original Message ----- From: <JimStinehart AT aol.com>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2008 3:28 PM
Subject: [b-hebrew] "Sary" vs. "sary"



“Sary” vs. “sary”

1. In the Bible, we see two plural forms of sin-resh/“sar”. The more
common plural form in the Bible, and the only plural form in the Patriarchal
narratives, is sin-resh-yod/“sary”. Genesis 12: 15 and 47: 6 (The other plural
form, which is seen in several books of the Bible and in modern Hebrew, is
sin-resh-yod-mem/“sarim”.)

2. Sarah’s birth name, which I transliterate into English as “Sary”, is
spelled with the same three Hebrew letters: sin-resh-yod.

3. There seems to be clever Hebrew wordplay at Genesis 12: 15, based on “sary
” vs. “Sary”. Though the name “Sary” does not explicitly appear at Genesis
12: 15, it is clear from the preceding verses that “Sary” is who is being
looked at. So at Genesis 12: 15, the “sary” are looking at “Sary”, and the “
sary” recommend “Sary” to Pharaoh. There are of course no capital letters in
Hebrew, so in written Hebrew these two words look exactly the same:
sin-resh-yod. Pharaoh’s sin-resh-yod/“sary” are dealing with Abram’s wife
sin-resh-yod/“Sary”.

4. In English, “sary” at Genesis 12: 15 oddly gets translated as “princes”
, though certainly it is Pharaoh’s “top officials”, not princes (such as
Pharaoh’s sons), who are being referenced here. (In the Bible, when the word “sar
” is applied to a human being, it usually means “top official”, such as a
military commander or Pharaoh’s senior officers. The word “sar” rarely means “
prince” or “king” in the Bible, when applied to a human being.)

In English, Sarah’s birth name oddly gets translated as “Sarai”, pursuant to
the medieval pointing. (Note that Sary is not a “princess”. Sary does have
a strong-willed personality, though, like a king’s “top official”.)

In the Hebrew written text, in both cases it’s simply sin-resh-yod/“sary”.

Sary are dealing with Sary at Genesis 12: 15.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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