Biblical Hebrew Forum

[dwashbur AT nyx.net]

Mark,
As  far as I know, any time NAHAR is used without a qualifier like that it 
means the 
Euphrates.  It was THE major river in the region, and apparently when you 
said "the river" 
everybody knew which one you were talking about.

On 2 Jun 2009 at 16:02, Mark Spitsbergen wrote:

> In my search to understand a little more about the origins of the  
> Hebrew language I have been pondering the geographical location of  
> Avram's hometown. One of the points that seems most relavent to  
> understanding the location of Avram's hometown Ur, is the meaning of  
> "east of the river"-  b(ever hannahar or as is it reads in the LXX-  
> peran tou potamou "beyond the river" (Joshua 24:2,3,14,15). In that  
> nahar is shared by Hebrew, Ugaritic, Aramaic, Arabic and Akkadian  
> surely it is an unmistakable expression defining a "river". Should I  
> believe that this "river" is the Jordan or must we conclude that it is  
> the Euphrates? As I understand it the Nile would not be classified as  
> a nahar but a ye)or . However, the Euphrates is called a nahar perat  
> or simply nahar- "the river," while, as far as I understand the Jordan  
> is never referred to as a "nahar." If this is true then Ur has to be  
> on the otherside of the Euphrates, correct? Any help here would be  
> valued.
> 
> thanks,
> 
> Mark Spitsbergen
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Dave Washburn

Ibuprofen, Hebuprofen, Shebuprofen, Theybuprofen, wouldn't you like to be a 
profen too?