Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

George Athas:
 
You wrote:  “I don't know where you are getting this all from, Jim. It 
doesn't seem to represent what we know of NW Semitic linguistics at all. If 
you 
consistently change the inherent value of a Semitic consonant, you can make a 
text 
say whatever you like.”
 
I agree with that last statement.  That is why I strongly disapprove of the 
English translations of I Samuel 6: 18 that change )BL to )BN, thereby 
changing 
“meadow” (or “a long, narrow tract of land”) to “stone”.
 
My point is that )BL in the Masoretic Text of I Samuel 6: 18 is not a “mistake
”, but rather is like the )BL that we see 11 other times in the Hebrew Bible 
as the first element of a geographical place name in Canaan or the 
Transjordan.
 
Are you asserting that )BL is something other than a northern Hebrew or 
Canaanite version of XBL?  Note that the Masoretic Text has XBRN, whereas the 
Samaritan Pentateuch has )BRN.  Per HALOT, when XBR is used as a noun in the 
Masoretic Text, the Samaritan Pentateuch has )BR.  In both of those cases, 
the 
aleph/) in the northern Hebrew or Canaanite version of the word is a heth/X 
in the 
Masoretic Text. 
 
There is no )BL in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible, other than the 
many times when )BL is used as the first element of a geographical place 
name.  
But of course XBL is a very common noun in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew 
Bible.
 
I am asserting that )BL is the northern Hebrew version of XBL, and that these 
are different, regional spellings of the same Hebrew word.
 
Why do you say that “It doesn't seem to represent what we know of NW Semitic 
linguistics at all”?  It is well known that in the Samaritan Pentateuch, one 
often sees aleph/) where heth/X is found in the Masoretic Text.  And several 
posters on my previous thread noted that in many Semitic languages, certain 
types of heth often dropped out and were replaced by other letters, usually 
aleph.
 
For example, Aramaic speakers in the east used )QR) for “citadel”, under 
Akkadian influence of dropping certain kinds of heths.  But Aramaic speakers 
in 
the west had XQR) for “citadel”.  Going outside of NW Semitic, ubburu in 
Akkadian has no heth, but scholars think that originally that Akkadian word 
had 
begun with a heth, which is one reason for seeing ubburu as a cognate for 
XBR.  
These are some of the important linguistic facts that we learned from posters 
on my previous thread.
 
If )BRN in the Samaritan Pentateuch is XBRN or XBRWN in the Masoretic Text, 
then it makes logical sense that the )BL we see at I Samuel 6: 18 may be the 
northern Hebrew or Canaanite version of the Hebrew word which, when it is not 
part of a geographical place name (a proper name, whose spelling would not be 
edited by Jerusalem scribes), is consistently rendered in the Masoretic Text, 
when it is a common noun (not part of a proper name), as XBL.
 
Per HALOT, XBL can mean “a long, narrow tract of land”.  The Sorek Valley is 
“a long, narrow tract of land”.  So that meaning would fit perfectly for )BL 
at I Samuel 6: 18, if the reference is to the Sorek Valley.  I am trying to 
follow the good linguistic advice I received on my prior thread, and move the 
ball forward by comparing )BL, in a Canaanite geographical place name at I 
Samuel 6: 18 that is an unedited spelling of a proper name, to XBL as a 
common 
word in the Masoretic Text.  I see these as being different regional 
spellings of 
the same word, )BL vs. XBL, fully in accord with “what we know of NW Semitic 
linguistics”.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

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