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b-hebrew - [b-hebrew] naHHAs versus nahhA$ ---- was previously ----Kadesh-barnea

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  • From: "Ishinan" <ishinan AT comcast.net>
  • To: "B-Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] naHHAs versus nahhA$ ---- was previously ----Kadesh-barnea
  • Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:34:11 -0500


[URI HURWITZ] - The words NH$, the name of the Ammonite king in Hebrew, and NHS, the Arabic name of the ancient smelting enterprise in Khirbat Nahas, meaning copper, are identical. The Hebrew consonant $ is often the equivalent of the Arabic S. Compare $alom, Heb. and salam, Arab.

One possibility is that this identity - not just similarity - is a coincidence, and that would be the end of this matter. Especially since the Heb. word means "snake", and the Arab. means "copper".

But then the Hebrew word for copper is derived from the same root, and appears in Fem. form, with an auxillary 'T' - N'ho$et. Compare with N'hu$tan, the icon destroyed by Hezekiah. Is the name derived from its serpe


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[ISHINAN] - Uri, naHHAs is indeed copper or brass in Arabic, while nahhA$ in Arabic is a biting snake (see LisAn al-`Arab vol. vi, p. 730) hence the apparent confusion in Hebrew. They are from totally different roots, the former is from nHs root while the latter is from nh$ .

(Arabic phonology: "h" is a voiceless glottal fricative consonant, IPA - number 146. While "H" is a voiceless pharyngeal fricative consonant, IPA - number 144 )

I hope this helps


Ishinan Ishibashi






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