Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Nir Cohen:

 

slm does  n-o-t  mean “ladder” in Ugaritic!!!  You’ve really got to be careful citing a source like you did.  Here’s what the leading Ugaritic dictionary, Lete & Sanmartin (2003), says at p. 762 as to slm in Ugaritic:

 

“ ‘staircase’(?) (Hb. SLM, HALOT…metathesis Syr. sebbelto…Akk. simmiltu…)”

 

We see that Ugaritic scholars don’t know what slm means in Ugaritic.  They are guessing at a meaning of “staircase” based primarily on Genesis 28: 12!  And as is the penchant of scholars, they quickly move on to metathesis and half-heartedly assert a dubious Akkadian cognate on that questionable basis.  To the best of my knowledge, no mainstream scholar has guessed that slm might mean “ladder” in Ugaritic since 1965.

 

You will note that the other cognates that Bomhard cites from Hebrew are not helpful, as they mean “to weigh, balance”. 

 

In fact, mainstream scholars are right in saying that it’s unclear what a Semitic etymology of SLM may be.  In my opinion, the reason why mainstream scholars have failed to identify a consensus Semitic etymology for SLM is because it’s a Hurrian loanword from the Amarna Era.  I might also note in passing that Ugaritic contains many more Hurrian loanwords than does Hebrew, as a substantial minority of the inhabitants of Ugarit were ethnic Hurrians.  So it is very possible that slm in Ugaritic may be a loanword from Hurrian, just as I see the case being for SLM at Genesis 28: 12.

 

Heavens, Nir Cohen, you scared me out of a year’s growth!  Please check a standard Ugaritic dictionary next time before claiming a Ugaritic cognate.

 

Jim Stinehart

Evanston, Illinois