Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Nir Cohen:

 

Instead of $KN meaning “to dwell”, it may mean “to rule”.  In Amarna Letters EA 256: 9 and 362: 69, the Akkadian word for “magistrate” is alternatively rendered by the west Semitic word su-ki-ni or su-ki-na, where the consonants are %KN.  Thus an archaic meaning of $KN might be “to rule” or “to be the magistrate over”, instead of the later meaning of “to dwell”.  If the -WN ending is an archaic-style ending, that might make this archaic meaning more likely.

 

Jim Stinehart

Evanston, Illinois