Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Petr Tomasek <tomasek AT etf.cuni.cz>]

On Wed, Sep 30, 2009 at 03:48:51PM +0300, James Christian wrote:
> Hi all,
> recently I suggested that Elohim may be used as a proper name in the
> creation account and not just as a title. I also suggested that THWM in the
> creation account was used as a proper name for the ocean that covered the
> land at that time. My basis for this suggestion was their use with the
> absence of the definite article. Obviously, in English, it is easy to spot a
> proper name because we capitalise it and never use it with the definite
> article (I know, never say never, I'm sure there are some exceptional
> counter-examples). But is this the case in B-Hebrew. Can we determine proper
> name usage by using the absence of the definite article as an indicator?

No. The language is not an ideal system and there exist many exemptions.
I think the best example is 1Sam 1:1 MN HRMTYM CPJM...

> In
> Florentine Italian, for example, it is common to speak of 'La Sara' when all
> participants know which Sara we are talking about. What generalisations can
> we make about proper names and the significance of the definite article in
> B-Hebrew? If titles can be used without definite articles in B-Hebrew under
> what circumstances can they be used? What are the contextual clues that
> Elohim is a title in the creation account if that is the way it is to be
> understood?
> 
> James Christian

-- 
Petr Tomasek <http://www.etf.cuni.cz/~tomasek>
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