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  • From: Yigal Levin <Yigal.Levin AT biu.ac.il>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] The Names "Abram" and "Abraham"
  • Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2011 17:29:51 +0300

That "Ab-ram" is a perfectly normal and common Northwest Semitic theophoric
name meaning "the father [=deity] is high\exalted" I think that we can agree
on. The same for "Sarai/h", both forms meaning "Lady" - perhaps a reference
to a female deity. The question is where the form "AbraHAm" came from.
Assuming, as Jim claims that he does, that there is a historical reality
behind the Patriarchal narratives (P-I-N-P-O-I-N-T), Abram's name was changed
to Abraham WAY AFTER Abram's stay in Egypt. So there is no reason to assume
that there is anything "Egyptian" about the name (unlike, say, Moses, which
is very likely to be originally Egyptian). So the most likely probability is
that the from "Abraham" is also NW Semitic, perhaps Amurru/"Amorite", in a
local Canaanite dialect. But we know so little about local Canaanite dialects
(despite what can be gleaned from the Amarna texts) that we really can't get
any further.


The case or Reuben that Jim cited below, like most of the names of the sons
of Jacob, is a great example of internal "midrash" - despite what the name
probably "really" meant, the story uses it to convey something else. The same
is true of "Yisrael", "Shemuel" and many others.


Yigal Levin








-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of jimstinehart AT aol.com
Sent: Sunday, September 18, 2011 4:42 PM
To: George.Athas AT moore.edu.au; b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] The Names "Abram" and "Abraham"





George Athas:

1. You wrote, apparently referring to my suggestion that the R in “Abraham”
may be short for R(, and as such may reference Deity by using Hebrew resh/R
as short for the Egyptian word r‘:

“In addition to the linguistic impossibilities….”

But rather than being a “linguistic impossibility”, as you would have it,
it’s exactly the type of brilliant, inspired linguistic gambit that we see at
Genesis 29: 32:

“And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben [R)WBN]:
for she said, Surely the LORD hath looked upon [R)H] my affliction [B(NYY];
now therefore my husband will love me.”

Gesenius comments [with the brackets in the original]: “R)WBN (‘see, i.e.,
behold, a son!’, although the author of the book of Genesis , Gen. 29:32,
seems so to speak of this name as if it were for R)W [for R)WY] B(NYY
‘provided for my affliction’….).”

The author of Genesis 29: 32 is seeing BN as being short for B(NYY, where the
ayin/( has been dropped in the name Reuben/R)WBN. That’s exactly parallel to
the author of Genesis 17: 5 seeing R as being short for R(, where the ayin/(
has been dropped in the name )B-R-HM. Same.

What you try to write off as a “linguistic impossibility” is precisely the
type of brilliant wordplay in the Patriarchal narratives that is utterly
breathtaking.

If the ayin in B(NYY can disappear in the name “Reuben” at Genesis 29: 32,
then the ayin in r‘ or R( can likewise disappear in the name “Abraham” at
Genesis 17: 5. Same.

2. Please set forth your own view as to the statement at Genesis 17: 5 as to
what the name “Abraham” means. Does the author of Genesis 17: 5 know what
he’s talking about? How does the author of Genesis 17: 5, and how should we,
view the resh/R in the name “Abraham”? Does the name “Abraham” have a
different meaning than the name “Abram”, and if so, in what way do the
meanings differ and why?

Andronic Khandjani, Jack Kilmon, William Parsons and Garth Grenache have each
raised important, substantive objections to my theory that the resh/R in the
name “Abraham”/)B-R-HM is short for r‘ or R(. Now I am setting forth the
corroborating example of the name “Reuben” at Genesis 29: 32, where the
Biblical author certainly appears to have dropped an ayin/( in setting forth
the Biblical explanation of the name of Jacob’s oldest son.

Why is this fascinating discussion of a linguistic analysis of the name
“Abraham” being cut short? Is it because so far not a single poster on this
thread has overtly defended the scholarly analysis of the name “Abraham”,
which holds that “Abraham” is supposedly merely a “lengthening” of the name
“Abram”? Shouldn’t we explore other ideas, especially a theory that relies
very heavily on what the Biblical text explicitly says at Genesis 17: 5 and
29: 32?

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois



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