Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Ssade Can Be Emphatic Sin

 

As noted in my prior post, in early Biblical Hebrew ssade/C can be emphatic sin.  The most obvious example of that is that the name “Isaac” and the verb “to laugh” start out in the Bible being spelled with ssade/C, but in late books in the Bible, both are instead spelled with a sin/%.

 

Here’s another indication that ssade could be emphatic sin.  In a post on ANE-2 on December 26, 2006, Yitzhak Sapir noted:  “Ezra 4:1 calls the "elite (Heb: s'ry [%RY]) of Judah and Benjamin" as "Enemies (Heb: cry [CRY]) of Judah and Benjamin".  In other words, a Sin becomes a Sade.  It is clear that mockery is involved, but what is also quite impressive is that the two letters hark back to very similar phonemes in Proto-Semitic.”

 

Now consider a third example of this same phenomenon.  II Samuel 8: 3 has LH%YB with a sin/% (or shin), as opposed to I Chronicles 18: 3, which has LYCYB with a ssade/C.

 

So there is a fair amount of Biblical evidence that ssade could be emphatic sin, with ssade/C having a sound quite similar to sin/%.  That’s a key part of the basis for comments one often sees like the following:

 

“The languages of the Semitic family share a number of features.  One of them is phonetic, involving:  (a) the recognition of emphatic forms for some consonants -- for example, the Hebrew ssade being the emphatic form of the sin or samekh….”  Kamal Suleiman Salibi, The Historicity of Biblical Israel (1998), p, 10.

 

Jim Stinehart

Evanston, Illinois

--- Begin Message ---

• From: jimstinehart AT aol.com
• To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
• Subject: [b-hebrew] Ssade Can Be Emphatic Sin
• Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2012 09:37:09 -0500 (EST)

In early Biblical Hebrew, ssade/C can be emphatic sin.

Consider in this regard the Hebrew verb “to laugh” and the name “Isaac”.  In Genesis, they’re both spelled with ssade/C:  CXQ and YCXQ.  [The west Semitic meaning of “Isaac” is “He Laughs”, but since his mother’s birth name is not Semitic, his own name will have as its more profound meaning its non-Semitic meaning:  “He Sits Next to God”.]

But in late books in the Bible, “he laughs” and “Isaac” are spelled not with a ssade/C, but rather with a sin/%:  %XQ and Y%XQ.

Here are some Biblical cites.  “[He] laughed”, spelled YCXQ with a ssade/C, is at Genesis 17: 17.  The name “Isaac” is likewise spelled YCXQ with a ssade/C two verses later at Genesis 17: 19.  By contrast, “[man is] laughed” is spelled %XWQ with a sin/% [not a ssade/C] at Job 12: 4, and “Isaac” is spelled Y%XQ with a sin/% [not a ssade/C] at Amos 7: 9.

That indicates that in early Biblical Hebrew, ssade could be an emphatic sin, having a sound quite similar to sin.

Jim Stinehart

Evanston, Ilinois

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