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  • From: jimstinehart AT aol.com
  • To: George.Athas AT moore.edu.au, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Heber's Wife Jael: "Male Ibex"?
  • Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2011 11:09:10 -0400 (EDT)


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







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