Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

I have said it before, I will say it again. I think KARMEL is rather  
the composition KR+ML, where KR is a variant of HR, GR (as in YGAR),  
QR (as in QIR), 'mount, elevation' while ML is as ML), 'full, replete'.
In the name  ABIGAIL the ABI part is, methinks, the Hebrew  
substantive (AB or )AB, 'large', and is thus comparable to the  
English name Belle, except that ABIGAIL contains the additional  
Hebrew substantive GA.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Jan 12, 2009, at 9:47 AM, JimStinehart AT aol.com wrote:

> Carmel:  The Town of David’s Abigail
>
> Chapter 25 of I Samuel provides us with important, accurate  
> information about
> Carmel/KRML, a town in Judah that is associated with one of David’s  
> wives,
> the widow Abigail:
>
> “And when the servants of David were come to [the recently widowed]  
> Abigail
> to Carmel, they spoke unto her, saying:  'David hath sent us unto  
> thee, to take
> thee to him to wife.'”  I Samuel 25: 40
>
> The town of Carmel turns out to be much more controversial than one  
> might
> think.
>
> In order to figure out the Judean town of Carmel, it makes sense to  
> start
> with a basic linguistic analysis (before moving on to examining the  
> significant
> amount of information that I Samuel gives us about Carmel/KRML).
>
> KRML is almost certainly KRM + L, where the final lamed/L is a mere  
> suffix.
> The 3-consonant root is K-R-M.  As a common word in its own right,  
> KRM means “
> vineyard”.  Adding the lamed/L suffix, which may here be a  
> diminutive, results
> in KRML, which has a different meaning:  “a garden that produces  
> the finest
> fruits”.
>
> These two common words, KRML and KRM, appear at Isaiah 16:10,  
> having the
> above meanings:
>
> “And gladness and joy are taken away out of the fruitful field [or  
> ‘garden’
> /KRML];  and in the vineyards [KRM] there shall be no singing,  
> neither shall
> there be shouting;  no treader shall tread out wine in the presses  
> [YQB + YM];
> I have made the vintage shout to cease.”
>
> For now, the most important linguistic fact to keep in mind is that  
> the final
> lamed/L is a mere suffix (though it changes the meaning of this  
> word and
> name).  Thus the city name “Carmel” is:  KRM + suffix.
>
> In order to find out if this town was already in existence, with  
> this same
> basic name, 500 years before Abigail’s day, simply remember that  
> this city name
> is, in essence:  KRM + suffix.
>
> Jim Stinehart
> Evanston, Illinois
>
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