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  • From: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] HALOT Etymologies
  • Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2010 06:24:23 +0200

Jim,

Who in the world said that HALOT was perfect? But as Isaac said, etymologies
of names is often problematic. The names you list below are obviously not
Hebrew. If you are now going to tell us that in Hurrian they all make sense
and that they are all pinpoint accurate in the fourteenth century BCE, please
don’t bother. We believe you.



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: Thursday, December 02, 2010 8:59 PM
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [b-hebrew] HALOT Etymologies


HALOT Etymologies

We are often told that HALOT’s etymologies of Biblical Hebrew words and
names are the finest that have ever been done in 3,000 years. Yet when I
look
in HALOT for etymologies of some of my favorite Biblical names, here is what
I find:

1. (N-R at Genesis 14: 13: “n.m.” Is that the finest etymology ever
done of this Biblical name?

2. QNZ-Y at Genesis 15: 19: “name of a tribe, meaning unexplained”. That
’s the finest etymology there is?

3. XTY at Genesis 15: 20: “cun[eiform] Xatti…Hittites in Palestine:
earlier population of the land, after the Assyrian name for Syria and
Palestine
in a wider sense”. Did they really say “Hittites in Palestine”? Are they
serious?

4. (PR-WN at Genesis 23: 8: “n.m. of a Hittite”. That’s the best
etymology out there?

5. $N(-R at Genesis 14: 2: “$in(ar is the land of $anxar(a) in Syria, and
was first used as a secondary expression for $umeru Sumer at a time when
$anxar was not used as the name of a country”. Really? $N(-R is “Sumer”,
but means “Syria”?

6. BR$( at Genesis 14: 2: “Arabic…ugly”. That’s the b-e-s-t
etymology out there?

7. $M)BR at Genesis 14: 2: “the meaning of the personal name is not
established”.

How can university scholars consider HALOT to be the gold standard for
etymologies regarding Biblical names like the above? Isn’t it clear that
HALOT
has no idea whatsoever what the actual etymology is for any of the above 7
names?

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
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