Biblical Hebrew Forum

[David P Donnelly <davedonnelly1 AT juno.com>]

I am just reporting that the Unicode/XML Westminster Leningrad Codex is
operating very-very slowly in Lexington, Massachusetts USA.

For what its worth Lexington is experiencing Blizzard conditions,
although at this moment,
I can only measure 12 " of new overnight snow at the bottom of my
driveway.

Dave Donnelly




Viewers of the Unicode/XML Westminster Leningrad Codex at

<http://www.tanach.us>

are reminded to report problems with the site immediately so they can
be repaired to the benefit of others.

Problems include, but are not limited to: broken links, slow service,
confusing instructions.
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>From JimStinehart AT aol.com  Wed Jan 12 10:20:35 2011
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Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] words with the same root letters:  XCC-N TMR
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Dr. Fournet:
=20
We are trying to figure out the meaning and identity of XCC-N TMR at=20
Genesis 14: 7 [heth-tsade-tsade-nun tav-mem-resh].
=20
1.  Although madi is the native Hurrian word for =E2=80=9Cwisdom=E2=80=9D,=
 we see=20
xa-tsi-tsi, which is a loanword from Akkadian, used for =E2=80=9Cwisdom=E2=
=80=9D by the Hurrians at=20
p. 22 of your website:
=20
=E2=80=9C*[ijadama xadzidzidama] and to Ea and the wisdom (Hasis)=E2=80=9D
=20
2.  The Akkadian cuneiform of the Amarna Letters distinguishes tsade/C fro=
m=20
shin/$ and sin/% [or s].  XCC in Hebrew is not a perfect match to xa-si-su=
=20
in Akkadian or to xa-si in Amarna Letter EA 175, because the sibilants the=
re=20
are sin/%/s, not tsade/C.  Though the Hurrian sibilants are not always=20
clear, your rendering of xa-tsi-tsi at p. 87 of your website shows that XC=
C in=20
Hebrew is a perfect match to xa-tsi-tsi in Hurrian. =20
=20
3.  As to a -ni suffix for this word, the native Hurrian word for =E2=80=
=9Cwisdom=E2=80=9D=20
is madi, and for =E2=80=9Cwise=E2=80=9D is madonni, with a -ni ending.  Th=
us an abstract=20
noun like madi or xa-tsi-tsi in Hurrian can take -ni [or -nni] as a suffix=
. =20
Such a suffix would be rendered as -N in Biblical Hebrew.
=20
4.  Tam-ri means =E2=80=9Cnine=E2=80=9D in Hurrian.   The =E2=80=9Cwisdom=
=E2=80=9D of the Hurrians as to=20
primeval matters centered around the number nine, as the only three number=
s=20
I know of in Hurrian primeval mythology are (i) nine, (ii) nine, and (iii)=
=20
nine thousand.  In particular, the Hurrians thought that each of the first=
=20
two primeval gods had reigned for nine years.
=20
5.  Accordingly, XCC-N TMR at Genesis 14: 7 makes perfect sense when=20
analyzed from a Hurrian perspective.  XCC is xa-tsi-tsi, being an Akkadian=
=20
loanword that the Hurrians on occasion used for =E2=80=9Cwisdom=E2=80=9D.=
  -N is the ubiquitous=20
Hurrian suffix that can apply to =E2=80=9Cwisdom=E2=80=9D in Hurrian, whet=
her madi or=20
xa-tsi-tsi.  TMR is the Hurrian word for =E2=80=9Cnine=E2=80=9D.  Given th=
at Hurrian primeval=20
mythology centers on the number nine, the following makes sense in Hurrian=
 as a=20
city name, though it likely would make little sense to any other peoples:=
  =E2=80=9C
Wisdom-the Nine=E2=80=9D.  That phrase would be rendered in Biblical Hebre=
w as XCC-N=20
TMR, just as we see at Genesis 14: 7.
=20
6.  There are two alternative explanations of xasi at Amarna Letter EA 175=
.=20
 I have previously suggested that xasi is a shortened form of xasisu in=20
Akkadian, and as such is a shortened form of xa-tsi-tsi in Hurrian.  Anoth=
er=20
possibility is that xasi is the Hurrian word for =E2=80=9Cto hear=E2=80=9D=
, which is usually=20
spelled xaz- or xa$- in Hurrian.  The sibilants are not an exact match,=20
though they=E2=80=99re close, and the meaning is different, but it=E2=80=
=99s somewhat related. =20
Both of these approaches can be matched to Hurrian names at Nuzi, which=20
include XaCi-Ya [or XaZi-Ya], XaCianNi [or XaZianNi], Xasi-ya and Xa$i-ya,=
=20
Xasi-u and Xa$i-u, and Xa$i.  Each of Xasi-u and Xasi-ya look a lot like=
 Xa-si=20
at Amarna Letter EA 175, with the only difference being that the Nuzi name=
s=20
add a standard Hurrian suffix.  Since the Hurrian word for =E2=80=9Cto hea=
r=E2=80=9D is=20
spelled xaz- or xa$-, but not xas-, one has to ask if Xasi-ya and Xasi-u=
 at=20
Nuzi, and the city name Xasi, may be plays on a shortened form of xasisi,=
 the=20
Hurrian/Akkadian word for =E2=80=9Cwisdom=E2=80=9D.  At a minimum, all of=
 the following are=20
possible in Hurrian, either as names at Nuzi or as common words:  XaCiCi,=
=20
XaCiCi-Ni, Xasisi, XaCi and Xasi.  The first three clearly mean =E2=80=9Cw=
isdom=E2=80=9D.  The=20
last two are ambiguous:  they may mean =E2=80=9Cto hear=E2=80=9D, or they=
 may be a=20
shortened form of =E2=80=9Cwisdom=E2=80=9D. One has to wonder if Xasi-ya=
 was ambiguous to the=20
Hurrians themselves [where the -ya suffix is a standard Hurrian theophoric=
].  It=20
could either mean =E2=80=9CHear God=E2=80=9D, if Xasi is an unattested for=
m of the verb =E2=80=9C
to hear=E2=80=9D, which is normally spelled xaz- or xa$- [but not xas-],=
 or it could=20
mean =E2=80=9CWisdom of God=E2=80=9D, if Xasi is a shortened form of xasis=
i, meaning =E2=80=9Cwisdom
=E2=80=9D.  Perhaps it meant both?  Could Xasi-ya mean both, whereas Xa$i-=
ya, by=20
contrast, would solely mean =E2=80=9CHear God=E2=80=9D?  We must remember=
 that the Hurrians=20
very often shortened words, such as substituting Te- for Te$up, in proper=
=20
names.  Even if every one of these Nuzi names is based on the Hurrian verb=
 =E2=80=9Cto=20
hear=E2=80=9D, rather than on the Hurrian/Akkadian noun =E2=80=9Cwisdom=E2=
=80=9D, one can still=20
imagine XaCiCi-Ni/=E2=80=9Cthe Wisdom=E2=80=9D being shortened in Hurrian=
 to Xasi/=E2=80=9Chear=E2=80=9D=20
[though the meanings would be different].  The Hurrian name Xasi at Nuzi=
 might,=20
however, be a shortened form of the Hurrian/Akkadian word for =E2=80=9Cwis=
dom=E2=80=9D,=20
xasisi.  Either way, (i) a Hurrian city name XaCiCi-Ni could get shortened=
 to=20
Xasi [with it being unclear if the meaning changes], and (ii) the fact tha=
t=20
XaCiCi is a loanword from Akkadian and can alternatively be spelled Xasisi=
 in=20
Hurrian makes it easier to see Xasi as being a shortened form of XaCiCi-Ni=
=20
[regardless of whether the meaning changes].
=20
7.  Your repeated insistence that xa-tsi-tsi in Hurrian is a loanword from=
=20
xa-si-su in Akkadian greatly strengthens my case.  That creates a natural=
=20
link between XCC-N at Genesis 14: 7 and Xa-si at Amarna Letter EA 175. =20
Finding Xasi + suffix as a Hurrian name at Nuzi also helps.  I see XCC-N=
=20
TMR/xa-tsi-tsi-ni tam-ri at Genesis 14: 7 as being one and the same place=
 as Xa-si at=20
Amarna Letter EA 175.  The former is the long-form Hurrian rendering, and=
=20
the latter is a shortened version in Akkadian and/or Hurrian,  Just as an=
=20
American can shorten =E2=80=9CSan Francisco=E2=80=9D to =E2=80=9CFrisco=E2=
=80=9D, so could a Hurrian shorten=20
Xa-tsi-tsi-ni Tam-ri to Xa-si.
=20
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois