Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yodan" <yodan AT yodanco.com>]

Yigal, Shalom, 

 

Thank you! Helpful information. 

 

I knew about HIRAM = AHIRAM but I didn't know about AH(I) or AV(I) being
epithet for the deity. Do you have more information about this? I can see
why one would refer to a deity as "father", but why "brother"?

 

Toda rabba,

Bruryah Tashah

 

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Yigal Levin
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 9:17 AM
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Hiram Hirom Huram

 

Other than in Isaac's reconstructions - no. The usual assumption is that

Mount Hermon was called that because it was considered sacred by the local

Canaanites (or whoever). 

 

As far as Hiram, it is usually considered to be a shortened form of Ahiram,

a fairly common Phoenician and Hebrew name, literally meaning "my brother is

exalted", where "brother" is an epithet for the deity, similar to

"Ab(i)ram", "Ah(i)ab" and so on. So the name Hiram is actually not derived

from XRM.

 

Yigal Levin