Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Nir Cohen:

 

You wrote:  “all these three words: AB, RAM, NAHAR were equally used in canaanite and aramaic, among several other very similar semitic dialects.  now, aramaic was spoken in syria and, in fact, is recorded in several mesopotamean sites. so, i do not see how, linguistically, these words can provide a proof that abraham did not come to canaan from these regions.”

 

I believe the scholarly consensus is that “Abram” looks like perfectly good Canaanite, but does not fit Aramaic well:

 

“[T]he name change of Abram to Abraham involves transforming a typical Canaanite construction into one which resembles an Aramaic one.  Speiser…noted this….  …Abram reflects Hebrew rwm and Abraham reflects Aramaic rhm.”  Gary A. Rendsburg, in “Eblaitica 2” (1990) at p. 110.

 

[I don’t agree with that analysis of “Abraham”, by the way, but I do agree that “Abram” looks like Canaanite, rather than like Aramaic.]

 

A second problem with any claimed Aramaic analysis is that Aramaic is not attested in writing until the 1^st millennium BCE.  I believe that most scholars agree that the name “Abram” is centuries older than that.

 

As I said, there might well have been pre-Aramaic in eastern Syria in the Late Bronze Age.  But there was very little Canaanite in eastern Syria, because eastern Syria is so very, very far away from Canaan.  And the name “Abram” (i) works perfectly in Canaanite, while (ii) not seeming to be Aramaic.

 

And where would Ur fit into such an analysis?  There was no Aramaic and no Canaanite at Ur in the Bronze Age.

 

My own view remains that Abram and the first Hebrews were indigenous to Canaan, and happened to live during that one short period of time when the ruling class of Canaan was dominated by Hurrian princelings.  I see Abram’s mother as being a Hurrian, whereas his father Terah was a native west Semitic speaker.  )BRM works well as a Canaanite name, )B-RM.  But its more profound meaning [reflecting Abram’s Hurrian mother] is its Hurrian meaning:  a-ba-ri-im : )BR-M, where the Hurrian meaning is “lord”.

 

Are you claiming that )BRM is an Aramaic name, and is neither a Canaanite name nor a Hurrian name?  I myself have seen no scholarly support for that position.  Can you cite a scholar who claims that )BRM is an Aramaic name and is not a Canaanite name? 

 

I myself see Abram as living in Hurrian-dominated Canaan in Years 12-14 of the Amarna Age.  Given that time period and that geographical location, it makes perfect sense on all levels that his name )BRM makes good sense in both Canaanite and Hurrian, while not being an Aramaic or pre-Aramaic name.

 

Jim Stinehart

Evanston, Illinois