Biblical Hebrew Forum

[dwashbur AT nyx.net]

On 8 Mar 2011 at 20:26, George Athas wrote:

> There is, of course, no logical reason why  could not have
> been known to a 10th century BC Solomon. However, it would be highly
> unusual for a single word from Persian indicating a luxury estate to
> be so widely known that it made its way into Hebrew and was able to
> describe an equivalent phenomenon known in Judah at a time when
> Persia was a measly little kingdom up in the Zagros Mountains away
> from major highways and trade routes. It makes a lot more sense that
> this word was disseminated through a number of languages when Persia
> was actually able to influence them.

If, as you say, Persia was nothing more than a wide place in the caravan 
trail in the time of
Solomon, could it be that the word moved the opposite direction?  That is, 
could it be a
Hebrew/Semitic word that passed into Persian at some point?

Like you, I don't have a dog in this fight, I'm just curious as to people's 
thoughts about such
a possibility.

Dave Washburn

http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur