Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Al:

On Fri, Apr 10, 2009 at 9:04 AM, Alternate <crequi AT ntlworld.com> wrote:

> Has it ever been suggested that Arpachshad in Gen.10:22 is meant to
> represent Arabia? … Also it looks similar to the Arabah, a place which
> appears a number of times at the beginning of Deuteronomy (1:1, 1:7, 2:8,
> 3:17, 4:49)…
>
> So my questions are these: Is it possible that Arpachshad and Arabah are
> related in meaning? Can Arpachshad be understood to mean something like
> "bosom of the wilderness" implying the place of origin of the peoples of
> Arabia?


The simple answer is “No”.

Though the modern alep and ayin have the same pronunciations and
transliterations, apparently the same could not be said for Biblical Hebrew.
That they are not confused in Biblical Hebrew indicates that they had
significantly different pronunciations so that words differing only in those
letters would be recognized as having different roots. )RPK$D has an alep
while (RBH has an ayin.


> Thanks
>
> Al Craig



Karl W. Randolph.