Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>]

 You will get an idea of what אביב is if you look at it as  
עביב = עב-היא-עב

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Jan 15, 2010, at 9:09 AM, James Christian wrote:

> Hi,
>
> thanks for that Yigal. It gave me a lot of food for thought. Do you  
> (or
> anyone else) know what the evidence is for the meaning of 'aviv'?
>
> Also with regarding to tracing the history of the astrological and
> agricultural factors I would make the following observation. The  
> documents
> of the law and the prophets seem to present a more agriculturally  
> based
> people. It is the history of the Babylonians that presents some  
> kind of
> dedication to astronomy. My gut feeling at this point is that there  
> may be
> some truth to the theory of the Hebrews using these agricultural  
> signs to
> declare the start of the year. Astrological observations, like the  
> spring
> equinox are probably more the result of Babylonian or later Roman
> influences.
>
> Also, does anyone else find it suspicious that Babylonian month names
> completely supplanted Hebrew ones? Apart from Aviv is there  
> actually any
> evidence of their ever being original Hebrew month names? The  
> account of
> Noah seems to use numerical references to months rather than names of
> months. Could it be that the Hebrews did not actually have names  
> for months?
> Just numerical references?
>
> James Christian
>
>
> 2010/1/15 Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
>
> > Dear James,
> >
> > The "original" meaning of the word "Aviv" seems to be "ripened",  
> > perhaps
> > referring to the hollowness of the stalks. From this, "Aviv" came  
> > to mean
> > the designation of the beginning of spring - the time of the barley
> > harvest.
> > In the Bible, it does note seem that "aviv" was actually the  
> > proper name of
> > the month, but simply a designation - "the month of the barley  
> > harvest". It
> > was the rabbis who first understood "Aviv" as being the actual  
> > "biblical"
> > name of the month which they called Nisan (taken, like all of the  
> > "Hebrew"
> > month-names, from the Babylonians). And the use of "Aviv" as  
> > referring to
> > the spring "season" (as in the name of my fourth child, who was  
> > actually
> > born in Adar) is, as far as I know, modern.
> >
> > After the Passover was set, the Torah commands that it be  
> > celebrated in
> > "the
> > month of aviv" - as I wrote, probably not referring to the name of  
> > the
> > month
> > but rather to its agricultural status. The fact is, that we have  
> > absolutely
> > no information about how and if this was observed in the biblical  
> > period.
> > The rabbis of the Talmud (for example Bab. Tal. Sanhedrin 10-12)  
> > described
> > two conditions for adding an extra intercalary month of Adar (the  
> > month
> > before Nisan/Aviv). The first is if without such a month Passover  
> > would
> > fall
> > before the vernal equinox (March 21), which is the beginning of  
> > the spring
> > according to the Roman solar calendar (and ours as well). The  
> > second is
> > agricultural: if the lambs born the previous year were not yet  
> > ready for
> > sacrifice, if the barley was not ripe enough for the firstfruits  
> > ceremony,
> > or if the roads to Jerusalem were not yet dry enough for the  
> > pilgrims to
> > come for the Passover, an extra month would be declared. The  
> > rabbis seem to
> > assume that this was also the practice in the First and Second  
> > Temples, but
> > that's very hard to prove historically.
> >
> >
> > Yigal Levin
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of James  
> > Christian
> > Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2010 6:05 PM
> > To: b-hebrew
> > Subject: [b-hebrew] Aviv and Exodus 9:31
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > some time last year (about the time of Passover) I was interested in
> > researching how the Hebrews went about deciding the start of the  
> > year each
> > year. Obviously, this was a crucial task to determining the date  
> > of the
> > festival of Passover. In the course of my research I remember  
> > reading an
> > unsubstantiated claim that before the implementation of the various
> > mathematical systems of the Hebrew calendar the ancient Hebrews quite
> > simply
> > looked each year for when the Barley was ripe. If it was not yet  
> > ripe then
> > they added another month to the year. If it was ripe it was  
> > declared that
> > the month of Aviv had started (at the new moon, of course). I  
> > remember
> > finding this proposition interesting and a good agriculturally  
> > based claim
> > but noted that the claim was not referenced in any way. Just today  
> > while
> > reading through Exodus I noticed verse 31 of chapter 9.
> >
> > Any thoughts?
> >
> > James Christian
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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