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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: fournet.arnaud AT wanadoo.fr, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Seir and El Paran
  • Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2010 09:47:29 EST


Dr. Fournet:

A. You wrote: “1. Serri or Sarri is not a Hurrian word but a Semitic
borrowing.


In all cases, the root is S_r, there is no (.


2. “(God Is) King” cannot be a possible Hurrian name.


In addition Hurrians were not monotheistic.”



Here is the standard translation of Mitanni Letter IV: 115-118:

“As by $eri [$e-e-ir-ri], and your [Egyptian] god our life and our fate are
determined, may the gods guide both of us together, Te$up and Amanu, our
lords [ip-ri-iw-we-$u-u$], our fathers.”

1. Your translation of $e-e-ir-ri as “king” is inadequate, as it is clear
from the context that a divine meaning is intended here. That’s why I said
the implication was “(God Is) King” as the name of a city. As you well
know, the most common second element of a Hurrian name is -iya, being a
generalized theophoric reference.

2. The Hurrians certainly weren’t monotheistic, as here they reference
both Te$up and Amen.

3. Your transliteration “$erri” is inadequate, and hides the comparison
to the Biblical spelling. The word is $e-e-ir-ri in the Mitanni Letter (per
the original German transliteration), and $e-e-ri in Amarna Letter EA 288:
26 (per Anson Rainey). Those middle vowels are represented by ayin in
Hebrew. Indeed, the later Hebrew spelling, $(-YR, is fairly close to
$e-e-ir,
while not being as close to your truncated $erri.

4. Since Phoenician and Punic authors used ayin to represent an interior
vowel in a name, the early Hebrew author of the Patriarchal narratives could
use the same technique in recording Hurrian names. $R was not an option
here, because he had to show that this was a multiple-syllable Hurrian name.
$(-R works very nicely.

B. In the context of a sentence (Genesis 14: 6) that is expressly telling
us where XR-Y live:

(a) $(-YR = $e-e-ir-ri = $e-e-ri

(b) )L P-)R-N = eli pu-ur-ni

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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