Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

In determining whether the Bible views Jael as being a Kenite/Hurrian whose 
name should be a non-Semitic Hurrian name, one important factor is how one 
understands the Hebrew name QYN-Y [transliterated by KJV as “Kenite”].  
Scholars have failed to see the Akkadian verb kānu as being the root of this 
Hurrian name, in part because of K vs. Q.  [Scholars have also failed to see 
the final Hebrew yod as representing the classic Hurrian theophoric suffix 
-ya in all six of the non-west Semitic names at Genesis 15: 19-21.  I view 
the Biblical name QYN-Y as being an Akkadian-based name with Hurrian 
characteristics.]  Ironically, the story of Jael herself may help with this 
K-Q interchange issue.  

Two verses after Jael kills Sisera, we see this poignant verse at Judges 5: 
28:  

“The mother of Sisera looked out [N$QP] at a window, and cried through the 
lattice, Why is his chariot [so] long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his 
chariots?”

In attempting to decipher Ugaritic, scholars have pointed to this line of 
Biblical text to ask whether there may be a K-Q interchange in a Ugaritic 
cognate.  n t k p in Ugaritic, where the underlined T is a sibilant, may be a 
cognate of the Hebrew verb $QP, which appears in the form N$QP when Sisera’s 
mother plaintively looks out the window and wonders why her son is late:  
“Hebrew offers another possibility with a k-q interchange….”  Wm. 
Schniedewind and Joel Hunt, “A Primer on Ugaritic” (Cambridge University 
Press, 2007), p. 64.

Although within Biblical Hebrew kaf/K and qof/Q are rarely confused or 
interchangeable, nevertheless in going from one ancient language to another, 
K and Q often are confused.  So where Ugaritic has K, as above, the Hebrew 
cognate may have Q.

Returning now to Akkadian, Akkadian in fact is more susceptible than Hebrew 
to having K interchange with Q.  An example is the Akkadian verb naqādu or 
nakādu, each of which can mean “to be anxious” or “to be disturbed”.  Note 
also that the Akkadian verb kanānu (meaning “to contract”, and being similar 
to the name Qani/Kani) could alternatively be written as qanānu.  [It’s even 
possible that in going from Akkadian through Hurrian to Hebrew, there could 
be some confusion between the Akkadian verb kānu, meaning “to be firm”, and 
the Akkadian verb qanû, meaning “to buy”.]  The point is that in evaluating 
the six strange non-west Semitic names at Genesis 15: 19-21, we should be 
aware of the possibility that (i) 3 of those 6 names may be Akkadian-based 
names with Hurrian characteristics, since that is commonplace at Nuzi, and 
(ii) if so, then the Hebrew spelling of the Hurrian version of the Akkadian 
verbal root may confuse K and Q.  Instead of both Qa-a-ni-ya at Nuzi, and 
QYN-Y at Genesis 15: 19, being inexplicable, as scholars would have it, 
consider that both names may be based on the Akkadian verb kānu.  It’s just a 
question of a K-Q interchange.  [The a-a at Nuzi, and the interior yod/Y in 
Hebrew, reflect the fact that the Akkadian vowel is a long A.]

On that analysis, both Qa-a-ni-ya at Nuzi and QYN-Y at Genesis 15: 19 are 
Akkadian-based names with Hurrian characteristics, which mean:  “Firm Is 
Teshup”.  The analysis in fact is extremely straightforward, once one 
recognizes the possibility of a K-Q interchange.  At truly ancient Genesis 
15: 19, a reference to the “Firm Is Teshup” people is of course a reference 
to the Hurrians.  Although scholars know that Qa-a-ni-ya is an attested 
Hurrian name at Nuzi, there is no Hurrian verb qa-a-ni.  Because of the Q in 
this Hurrian name, scholars have [to the best of my knowledge] failed to ask 
if this Hurrian name could be based on the Akkadian verb kānu, because that 
Akkadian verb starts with K, not Q.  But the poignant story of Sisera’s 
mother looking out [N$QP] the window for her son who has failed to return 
after being at Jael’s house helps us to see a K-Q interchange, as the 
Ugaritic cognate of this Hebrew verb features a K, instead of Q.

Instead of both Qa-a-ni-ya at Nuzi and QYN-Y at Genesis 15: 19 being 
inexplicable, in fact they both make perfect sense, once one sees that the 
root in both cases is the Akkadian verb kānu, which begins with a K, whereas 
these two names feature the K-Q interchange and begin with Q.

It’s not easy to analyze the strange name QYN-Y at Genesis 15: 19, but it’s 
worth it.  One important proof of my theory that QYN-Y [“Kenites”] is an 
Akkadian-based name with Hurrian characteristics, as opposed to being a west 
Semitic name, is that all the Biblical names associated with the Kenites, 
including Y(L, make better sense as non-Semitic Hurrian names than as west 
Semitic names.  I am the first to call for a halt to the 2,500-year-old 
tradition of doing west Semitic re-interpretations and mis-interpretations of 
the non-Semitic Biblical names of Kenites. 

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois