Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Dewayne Dulaney <dewayne.dulaney AT gmail.com>]

And here's a point to consider that nobody, I think, has mentioned in
this discussion: maybe Yael's parents named her that way because they
liked the sound of the name. Meaning may not have even been an issue.
That is often the case in modern cultures. Yes, I'm aware that some OT
Hebrew names were apparently chosen because of meaning, but that need
not apply to all of them. For instance, I doubt that Nabal—meaning
"fool": 1 Sam. 25:25, כשׁמו כן־הוא נבל שמו ונבלה עמו —was named by his
parents because he was a particularly foolish infant...all infants are
foolish until they learn things! In his case, though, it may be that
they named him that way with the hope that he would be the opposite,
i.e., wise. Sadly, they were wrong about that.

Just some food for thought.

Dewayne Dulaney

דואין דוליני

On 10/6/11, Will Parsons <wbparsons AT alum.mit.edu> wrote:
> Hi Uri,
>
> On Thu, 6 Oct 2011 10:30:07 -0700 (PDT), Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>>
>>    Since the humble (Ez and her feminine gender appeared
>>  again in the discussion, I'll mention again that in this
>>  case we're treading on solid ground.
>>
>>    The BH word is based on an earlier PS feminine form.
>>  This is clearly evident in the Arabic (Anzat ('Anzah
>>  in the colloquial ). The Nun dropped out in Hebrew,
>>  leaving a trace in the pronounciation of the plural and
>>  and of declensions which was audible to the Masorets'
>>  ears.
>
> I would agree about the nun, less sure that the Arabic feminine form can
> prove anything about the Hebrew.  My Arabic dictionary lists ﻋﻨﺰ/`anz as
> the primary form, and ﻋﻨﺰﺓ/`anza(t) as a "nomen unitatis".  Even if we
> take an Arabic form `anzat as primary, this doesn't necessarily mean that
> the Hebrew form once had a feminine ending and subsequently lost it - it
> may mean that Arabic has added a feminine termination.  Putting aside the
> obvious comparison of `anz : `anza(t) with other Arabic noun pairs of the
> (collective noun) : (singular noun) pattern, it would still be more likely
> that the later language (Arabic) would add an explicitly feminine
> termination
> to an already feminine noun than the earlier language (Hebrew) would drop
> an
> explicitly feminine termination from a feminine noun.
>
>>    Without performing any physical examination on Yael,
>>  the point should be made that the root is honorably
>> Semitic.
>
> I think so too.
>
> --
> Will Parsons
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-- 
"In the world you will have trouble. But, be brave! I have defeated the 
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—John 16:33, DDV (Dewayne Dulaney Version)

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