Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Add to the difficulties is that the surviving records of history seem to be
all messed up.

For example, the archaeological indications of the Exodus are centuries
prior to the historical records. Other examples abound.

So when was the library at Ugarit composed? When was the fall of Sumaria? An
honest historian would have to admit that those dates are uncertain.

Likewise the dates that loan words could have come from the languages
involved are uncertain.

Karl W. Randolph.

On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 10:52 AM, Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com> wrote:

>
>   When it comes to texts of the BH, the problems of dating
>  composition and redactions raise complicated challanges.
>  Clear  diachronic developments can be detected in some
>  instances but not in others.
>
>   An early loanword could well have been preserved and
>  used by a later author or editor. A good illustration of
>  linguistic influence, though from another Semitic language,
>  are the many Ugaritic word-pairs which appeared in
>  BH centuries after the collapse of that kingdom.
>
>  I wish I could have had a more definite comment. It
>  would be interesting to see what Randall has to say
>  about this specific loan-word.
>
>  Uri Hurwitz                           Great Neck, NY
>
>
>