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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] adonai "my Lord" or "the Lord"

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  • From: "Joel C. Salomon" <joelcsalomon AT gmail.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] adonai "my Lord" or "the Lord"
  • Date: Sat, 19 Dec 2009 19:46:40 -0500

On 12/13/2009 11:38 PM, Pere Porta wrote:
> But in order to distinguish divine reference from human, Massoretes often
> used this plural ending to say "(the) Lord" (= God): the plural ending is an
> intensive plural of rank and no more a suffix meaning "my".
> This is called the "plural of majesty".
<snip>
> Someone addresses to Yahweh and says to him: "You are my Lord". "You are my
> Lord*s*" would not make sense.

I’m not sure the majestic plural is exactly applicable to Hebrew, but
there is a related phenomenon with other words indicating control. In
Rabbinic Hebrew, for example, the owner of an object is sometimes called
the baalim (not just the baal). Cf. Genesis 42:30, “דבר האיש _אדני_ הארץ”.

—Joel C. Salomon




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