Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Dr. Fournet:
 
As we focus on Hebrew tsade in the name XCC-N TMR at Genesis 14: 7, it 
might be helpful if you would comment on the following 5 Hurrian names at 
Nuzi 
that Gelb and Purves list as starting with emphatic tsade.
 
For people on the b-hebrew list, by far the most exciting of these 5 names 
is #3, whose root seems to be a dead ringer for CXR/“Zohar”, the “Hittite”
/XTY named at Genesis 23: 8.  So please analyze name #3 in particular, and 
comment as to whether it could be the basis for the Biblical name CXR/ “Zohar”
.
 
1.  Calimmutu, at p. 175a.  At p. 321b, Gelb cites Akkadian %a-li-xa-a-u.  
If that is correct, note that Akkadian sin/% is coming into Hurrian as 
tsade/C.  [That in turn is directly relevant to the question of whether 
xss/X%% 
in Akkadian could come over into Hurrian as xa-tsi-tsi, with this Hurrian 
name then being recorded in early Biblical Hebrew as XCC.]
 
2.  Cill-Adad, at p. 177b.  At p. 323, Gelb cites the Akkadian root $ll.  
If that’s right, Akkadian shin/$ is coming into Hurrian as tsade/C.  
 
3.  Cuxartiya, at p. 181a.  This name appears to be Cuxar + the formative 
tiya [per p. 266a].  The consonantal root of this Hurrian name is CXR, which 
matches exactly to the name of the XTY/“Hittite” at Genesis 23:  8:  CXR.  
[There is nothing like this on Gelb’s Akkadian list.] 
 
4.  Cuxxutu, at p. 181a.  [There is nothing like this on Gelb’s Akkadian 
list.]
 
5.  Cupr-Adad, at p. 182a.  The only thing close on Gelb’s Akkadian list is 
$u-pu-ya at p. 324a.  If they’re related, then as with #2 above, Akkadian 
$/shin is coming into Hurrian as tsade/C.
 
If Gelb and Purves are right, then it seems to me that (i) Hurrian had 
emphatic tsade [though Hurrian did not overtly denote emphatics in writing], 
and 
(ii) in particular, Akkadian sin/% or Akkadian shin/$ could come over into 
Hurrian as a tsade.  If so, then xasisu in Akkadian [with a sin/%/s] could, 
like item #1 above, come over into Hurrian as xa-tsi-tsi, where the Hurrian 
sibilant is a tsade.  The early Biblical Hebrew equivalent of Hurrian 
xa-tsi-tsi could then well be XCC.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois