Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Dr. Arnaud Fournet: 
 
David Kolinsky is asking whether Anir/Aner/(NR in the unpointed Masoretic 
text of chapter 14 of Genesis is a “mistake”, since it makes no sense in 
west Semitic.  Since I have been asked to “desist”, could you complete the 
Hurrian analysis of this name?
 
Start with your website, which says:  “*[Øinarγa] (Essive) ‘looking or 
acting like a god’[;]  CA <e-na-ar-xa>.”  That attested Hurrian common word 
is 
the root ena + two suffixes, R + xa, which looks like (NR plus an 
additional suffix.
 
Then go to the exciting attested Hurrian name at Nuzi:  Anir$e.  That’s 
Anir + $e, likely being the same as the entry on your website, except a 
different second suffix is used:  root ena + R + $e.  [Here’s the cite for 
Anir$e 
at Nuzi:  468 SMN 2071, at p. 131 of “Nuzi and the Hurrians”, by David I. 
Owen and Ernest Rene Lacheman (1995).]
 
Then go back to your website (p. 34), and explain that -$e [like -R] is a 
standard Hurrian suffix, and that Hurrian words and names sometimes have two 
suffixes:  “-š(š)e-/-š(š)i-: used to create abstract nouns: šarrašši- ‘
kingship, royalty’ (cf. šarri- ‘king’[of Semitic origin]). Note ewri-šš
i-xi ‘royal’ with two suffixes.  In Proto-Indo-European, *-s was an extremely 
common suffix and had various usages.”
 
A simplified version of that attested Hurrian word and that attested 
Hurrian name would be to leave off the second suffix, and only have one 
Hurrian 
suffix:  -R.  That would give us ena + R, or Anir or Aner, which in Hebrew is 
what we see in the received Masoretic text of Genesis 14: 13, 24:  (N-R.  
That’s no “mistake”.  No, it’s bona fide Hurrian.
 
If David Kolinsky may be wondering whether a Hebrew ayin could be used to 
represent a Hurrian vowel, please mention the key example of (LM at Genesis 
14: 1 (the original version of Chedorlaomer’s kingly title) being a dead 
ringer for Hurrian Elami, where Hebrew ayin represents a Hurrian vowel.
 
I’ve said far too much, and I must desist.  But please let David Kolinsky 
know that (NR/Anir makes perfect sense in Hurrian, per the attested Hurrian 
name Anir + second suffix $e at Nuzi, while making no sense at all in west 
Semitic.  Guys, let’s not abandon the Masoretic text here!
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois