Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Aleph-Yod-Lamed-Vav Names

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: Yigal.Levin AT biu.ac.il, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Aleph-Yod-Lamed-Vav Names
  • Date: Fri, 6 May 2011 12:27:29 EDT


Dear Professor Yigal Levin:

In your last post on this thread, you made some very good points with which
I totally agree. You said: “Places do not get their names out of thin
air. Most (perhaps all) toponyms meant something at one time. Now it is
possible that the original meaning is forgotten, and to the people of a later
period the name is "just a name", but in the case of MOST biblical names,
they
seem to preserve the same meaning they had had since they were originally
given, sometimes as early as the Middle Bronze Age, when Western-Semitic
dialects were first used in Canaan. “ I agree 100%. You also said:
“Ayalon,
Alon and Elon (with and without the Yod), as well as the feminine Elah, are
types of trees. It does not really matter which tree is which or whether we
even know which is which. The different terms may have been used for
different
trees (or even as a generic "tree", such as the rabbinic Hebrew use of Alon)
in different periods (remember, we are talking about 1500 years at least).
So let's not get bogged down with discussion on whether a particular form
means "oak", or something else. So I would think that the place is named for
the tree.” Once again, I agree 100%.

You said: “The town of Ayalon is named after a tree. Exactly which tree, I
don't know. Might it originally have been pronounced Aylon or Eylon, and
sometimes spelled without a Yod? Maybe.” I agree completely. [In this post
I
will not discuss your one comment with which I disagree, namely that “Might
there have also been an Ayalon/Elon etc. near Hebron, just like the Elon
Beza'ananim near Kedesh in the Galilee? Why not?”]

You also said: “Since the MT often shifts between plene and defective
spellings of the same word, and the Mesoretes (Sir Isaac's NQDNYM) filled in
the
nuqqud as best they could, with, in the case of proper names, no real
grammar to guide them, I would not hang too much on the difference between
forms
such as Ayalon, Eylon and so on.” I agree 100%.

You closed with this question: “So what are you trying to prove?”

To that final question, I sent in a post arguing that )LNY MMR) at Genesis
13: 18 grammatically can have, and should be viewed as having, all three of
the following meanings: “oak trees of Mamre” a-n-d “oak tree cities of
Mamre” a-n-d “Aijalons of Mamre/Oak Tree Cities of Mamre”.

Do you agree with my grammatical analysis that based on Biblical Hebrew
grammar, it is possible for )LNY MMR) at Genesis 13: 18 to have the above
three
meanings? I realize that you do not seem to accept my controversial view
that when in southern Canaan, the Patriarchs sojourned near the Aijalons in
the rural paradise of the southerly part of the eastern Aijalon Valley,
rather than in rugged, mountainous southern hill country. But am I right in
thinking that your opposition to my view is n-o-t based on considerations
of
Hebrew grammar? On the b-hebrew list, I am first and foremost asking if there
’s something wrong with my Biblical Hebrew grammar analysis, when I assert
that in my opinion, it is possible that at Genesis 13: 18 )LNY MMR) may mean
all of the following: “oak trees of Mamre” a-n-d “oak tree cities of
Mamre” a-n-d “Aijalons of Mamre/Oak Tree Cities of Mamre”. That last
meaning is possible precisely because there were two Aijalons, located in
very
close proximity to each other, in the southerly portion of the eastern
Aijalon
Valley, per Joshua 19: 42-43. I see )LNY as being masculine construct
plural, and as conforming to all the ordinary rules of Hebrew grammar. Since
)LN and )YLN can have the same meaning, despite the difference in spelling
regarding the interior yod, it seems to me that )LN can nicely recall )YLN,
despite the spelling difference regarding that interior yod. Thus whereas
)LN
is a common word that means “oak tree” or “oak tree place” and which does
not have an interior yod, it can recall the proper name )YLN/“Aijalon”,
because that proper name has exactly the same underlying meaning, even though
that proper name has an interior yod. Thus )LNY can mean “oak trees of” or “
oak tree cities of” or “Aijalons of” or “Oak Tree Cities of”, and it can
have all of those meanings, even though there’s no interior yod in )LNY and
the proper name “Aijalon”/)YLN does have an interior yod. [For sake of
simplicity, I have always omitted the interior vav/W in these words and
proper
names, because that is merely a plene spelling issue.]

If you or anyone else sees an error in my understanding of the applicable
Hebrew grammar here, I would greatly appreciate someone pointing out the
error of my Hebrew grammatical analysis of this phrase. This particular
phrase
is of tremendous importance to my overall view of the Patriarchal
narratives, so any help I can get with the Hebrew grammar of this phrase
would be
wonderful.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page