Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Ishinan" <ishinan AT comcast.net>]

 FRED BURLINGAME wrote: Hello all: The etymology of this name = strong's 6738 
+ 6343? "shadow of fear?" 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Daughters_of_Zelophehad.jpg Any 
suggestions would be welcomed. 
--------------------------------------------------ISHINAN: Based on my 
research of Saadia Gaon (Sa`yid bin Yuwsuf al-Fayyuwmiy) 

I would translate " Zeloph-ehad"  as the "ONE"(ehad)  of "NOBLE" "GENEROUS 
ORIGIN" and/or of PURE RACE (S.lph tselph or Zeloph) cf. Arabic S.aliyb; root 
of  S.LB ; primary sense: hardy, strong and sturdy. Unfortunately, the 
suggestion offered above has nothing to do with shadow or fear! 



BTW. This is not the first time that B Hebrew compound words, including 
initial  "ts + l" letters, have been often  misread and mistranslated as 
"shadow." Consequently, this has led to unintended confusion. 



(For those interested in familiarizing themselves with  Sa`diyah's work 
(Saadia Gaon), I suggest reading "The  Zikkaron la-Rishonim we-gam 
la-Aaronim. Studien und Mittheilungen aus der St. Petersburg Kaiserlichen 
Bibliothek. 5 vols. St. Petersburg, 1879-82. Studien contains biographies and 
works of Saadia Gaon, from manuscripts in the St. Petersburg library, 
annotated by Albert Yakovlevich Harkavy.) 

  



FYI . Sa`diyah is one of the founders of comparative Semitic philology and 
the establishment of a new school of Biblical exegesis.  He is also well 
known  to have written extensively in Arabic. His explanation of the Hebrew 
vocabulary by the Arabic, particularly in the case of the favorite 
translation of Biblical words by Arabic terms having the same sound, has been 
in great part preserved in many Arabic sources. 



Hitherto, the position assigned to Sa`diyah in the oldest list of Hebrew 
grammarians has not been challenged even by the latest historical 
investigations. Yet, in my opinion, there is an obvious underutilization of 
his works by the majority of members in this HB group in favor of Greek and 
Aramaic translations  (with the exclusion of RANDALL BUTH, I might stress). 



Best regards



Ishinan Ishibashi