Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

%(YR/Seir at Genesis 14: 6 probably comes from the Hurrian word $a(ri [with 
Hurrian variants thereon being $xri or $a-ax-ri], meaning “orchard”.  
Fournet/Bomhard at p. 98.  Hurrian had no ayin as such, but it had a voiced 
velar fricative, which is probably equivalent to the archaic ghayin in 
Hebrew.  
As such, this Hurrian letter for ghayin would be expected to come out in 
written Biblical Hebrew as an ayin.  The closest possible Hebrew equivalent 
to 
Hurrian $a(ri/“orchard” would likely be $(YR or $(R, which in unpointed 
text is what we see at Genesis 14: 6.  [$ and % are the same letter in 
written 
Hebrew.  It’s unclear if the yod/Y was there in the original defective 
spelling.]  Related words in Hurrian-type languages are “sarme” in Subarian, 
meaning “forest”, and “sare” in Urartian, meaning “orchard”.  Since Hurrian 
borrowed almost no words from any Semitic language, it seems that Hebrew 
likely picked up this word and geographical place name from Hurrian.
 
As to “Seir”/%(YR in Hebrew, the root %(R means "hair" or "hairy" 28 times 
in the Bible, including at Genesis 25: 25 in the Patriarchal narratives, 
often with the connotation of "bristling".  BDB at p. 973 sees “Seir”/%‘YR as 
meaning “the ‘hairy’, i.e. ‘well-wooded’. Cf. [the Arabic word for] trees”
.  The Arabic words for tree and trees sound a lot like “Seir”/%(YR:  “
Tree = shajra;  Trees = shajar”.  Gesenius likewise sees “Seir”/%(YR as 
meaning “clothed, and, as it were, bristled with trees and thick woods”. 
 
Thus there is every reason to think that %(YR at Genesis 14: 6 means “
Well-Wooded”.  Such a name would only make sense in a locale that is 
“well-wooded
”, such as the well-wooded hill country in western Transjordan north of the 
Dead Sea, where the Hurrians are historically attested in the Late Bronze 
Age.  No place south of the Dead Sea was “well-wooded” or had any Hurrians, 
so at Genesis 14: 6 Seir is not referencing a locale south of the Dead Sea.  
Yes, in later parts of the Bible Seir was used to reference a locale south 
of the Dead Sea.  But not in truly ancient chapter 14 of Genesis.  If we are 
willing to analyze Seir in chapter 14 of Genesis in its Late Bronze Age 
historical context, we will see that it means “Well-Wooded”, and that it is 
referring to the well-wooded hill country in the western Transjordan north of 
the Dead Sea.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois