Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Yigal:

If it truly is TsYD the word meant in Beth-saida, I see the possibility that
it started as a place preparing food for the fishermen and other boatmen.
Possibly a family business. Then the place grew over time as other fishing
related business located there.

The word has as its basic root the meaning of getting provisions, such as
for a journey. It is used that way in Joshua 9. See also Nehemiah 13:15.
These stories also shows that hunting was not a sport, rather a way of
getting provisions.

Karl W. Randolph.

On Sat, Jan 31, 2009 at 11:47 PM, Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>wrote:

> It is often assumed that Beth-saida means "House of the hunters", with the
> form being Aramaic rather than Hebrew. Assuming the site to be on or near
> the Sea of Galilee, the "hunters" would actually be fishermen. "Sidon", the
> well-know Pheonician port, would be dirived from the same word.
>
> Rami Arav, who for years has been excavating a major site just north of the
> Sea of Galilee which he identifies as Bethsaida, has also suggested that
> the
> "Ziddim Zer" (the Z here stands for Sade, as in Beth-saida and in Sidon)
> mentioned in Josh 19:35 in the inheretance of Naphtali, is the Iron Age
> form
> of the same name, perhaps originally "Hacayyadim".
>
> Yigal Levin
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <JBarach AT aol.com>
> To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Friday, January 16, 2009 3:39 AM
> Subject: [b-hebrew] Bethsaida
>
>
> >
> > BHaverim --
> >
> > What does the name "Bethsaida" mean?  "Beth," obviously, means  "house."
> > But
> > what about the "Saida"?  I'm not even sure what the  Hebrew root word
> here
> > might be.  One commentary I have says it means  "House of Provisioning"
> > (Austin
> > Farrer) and another says "House of Fishermen"  (John Donahue & Daniel
> > Harrington) -- and all the rest that I have say  nothing about the
> meaning
> > of the name
> > at all.
> >
> > I'd be glad to hear what you think.  (I ask this on the B-Hebrew list,
> > even
> > though "Bethsaida" appears only in the Greek, because it's obvious a
> > Hebrew
> > name.  Hope this isn't a problem.)
> >
> > Thanks in advance!
> >
> > John
> >
> >
> >
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