Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Read <J.Read-2 AT sms.ed.ac.uk>]

Hi Kevin,


> Are you sure the Philistines that Abraham dealt with are the same
> Philistines that David defeated?

Yes and no! They are the same in the sense that they live in the same  
place and are of the same basic descent. They are not the same in the  
sense that have been conquered by some offshore invaders and their  
genes have likely mixed to some extent. Apart from pottery and  
architecture their language and culture are pretty much the same as  
before the invasion, though.


> Or could this be another example of
> Macedonians' where the name of a place remains, but the inhabitants change?

See above. Anyway, re Makedonia. There is still a region called  
Makedonia in northern Greece (not to be confused with the country).  
Thessaloniki is the main city of Makedonia. I know, because that's  
where I live when I'm in Greece.


> Just out of curiosity, if the Philistines were Hamitic and from Egypt, why
> would they speak a Semitic language?  Does this not require a language
> change just as if they were Indo-European?

Ok. I'm sure you are aware that the language group 'Semitic' is a  
misnomer. Just  be a language is 'Semitic' does not mean that the  
tribe that speaks it has to be a descendant of Shem.

James Christian




> Kevin Riley
>
> -------Original Message-------
>
> From: James Read
> Date: 24/05/2009 7:39:03 PM
>
> It seems more likely that the Philistine language has always been of
> Semitic origin and any traces of Indo-European loan words and
> Mycenaean pottery can perhaps be better explained by the influence of
> Later invaders. Indigenous peoples tend to cherish their language and
> Culture and not all invasions are successful in supplanting the
> Language (there are still communities in Wales that speak a Gaelic
> Dialect to this day).
>
> And so the above linguistic and archaeological observations perhaps
> Best answer the question of where those who later invaded and
> Influenced the philistines came from but not what the original
> Language of the philistines was or where the philistines originally
> Came from. The accounts in Genesis make it clear to us that the
> Philistines are
>
> a) of Hamitic origin (more precisely from Egypt)
> B) spoke a Semitic language from their very conception as a nation
>
> James Christian
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> b-hebrew mailing list
> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew



--
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.