Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Jim, regarding the names in Gen. 14, as in other biblical narratives, there 
are really only two possibilities: either the names are historical, or they 
are made-up.

If they are historical (by which I don't mean that every detail in the story 
actually happened as told, but that the writer used names that he was 
familiar with from his sources), then they are "real-life" names that once 
belonged to real people. In that case, just like with names today, their 
meaning might be clear, but it might not. Does everyone named "Jim" in the 
English speaking world know that his name is ultimately derived from the 
Hebrew "Ya'akov"? Would you attach the meaning of "heel" to every Jim?

On the other hand, if a name is made-up, we would assume that it would fit 
the character in the story, but even that's not always true. 

SO - if "Aner" was a real person, I really don't think that we can know what 
his name originally meant to his parents (or to whoever named him). We can 
guess, but considering that he lived at least 3000 years ago, a guess is all 
it would be. I could be western Semitic, it could be Hurrian, it could be 
Girgashite or Kadminite or Kryptonite. 


On the other hand, "Bera" would certainly be a fitting name for a king of 
evil Sodom, especially when juxtaposed with Melchizedek (king-justice) of 
(Jeru)salem. But that would only work if you think that the names were "made 
up" by the author as a literary device.

Or maybe not. I always remind my students of the town of Yamit, the largest 
of the Israeli settlements in Sinai to be disbanded when Israel handed the 
Sinai over to Egypt in 1982. The town was called Yamit because it was on the 
seashore (fantastic beaches!). But I'm sure that sometime in the future, it 
will be "obvious" to historians that the whole episode of Israeli settlements 
in Sinai was made-up, and that the name invented for the town, which means 
"will be put to death" was  a play on it's fate...


Yigal Levin  

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org 
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of JimStinehart AT aol.com
Sent: Friday, August 20, 2010 12:51 AM
To: George.Athas AT moore.edu.au; b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] a mystery regarding gen14:24?


George Athas:
 
You wrote:  “Jim, the mysterious -R suffix is so mysterious because it's no 
more a suffix than the 'm' at the end of 'Jim'. In other words, it's not a 
suffix at all.”
 
1.  What, then, is your theory of the name (NR at Genesis 14: 13, 24?  The 
conventional explanation of (NR is that it is a west Semitic name that means 
N(R, or “boy”.  To me, that conventional explanation makes no sense on any 
level.  Why would the letters N(R be mixed up to produce (NR?  And why 
would one call a brave princeling who helps Abraham rescue Lot and Lot’s 
family “
boy”?
 
2.  Do you think that Abraham is portrayed at the end of chapter 14 of 
Genesis as handing over Lot and Lot’s family to a princeling who graciously 
welcomes Lot’s return, whose name is west Semitic and means “In Evil”?  If 
not, 
what is your explanation of the name BR(?
 
I am suggesting that if we don’t look at the non-Semitic elements of these 
names in chapter 14 of Genesis, we will not understand the Hebrew text of 
the “four kings against five”.  I myself see BR( as being a non-Semitic 
princeling, who has a non-Semitic name.  I see (NR as being an Amorite 
princeling, but who has close contacts with non-Semitic princelings, and 
whose name 
has a non-Semitic suffix.  But if you know that I am wrong about all of that, 
and that neither (NR nor BR( has any non-Semitic element [even though I 
presume you may agree with the mainstream scholarly view that truly ancient 
chapter 14 of Genesis was composed at a time when there was a considerable 
non-Semitic presence in Canaan (or at least the remembrance of such)], then 
please set forth your own explanations for these two names.  Based on my 
reading 
of the scholarly literature, scholars have had a very difficult time trying 
to explain these two names.  But if you know the answers, then please set 
them forth, and we’ll all learn from you.
 
If the R at the end of the name (NR is not a suffix, then what does the 
name (NR mean?  From what is the name (NR derived?
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois 
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