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  • From: "Jack Kilmon" <jkilmon AT historian.net>
  • To: "Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Theophoric names
  • Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2013 14:44:54 -0600



-----Original Message----- From: Uri Hurwitz
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2013 1:56 PM
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [b-hebrew] Theophoric names


Karl,

What about Moses' mother YKBD, Yocheved, where the theophoric element of the name is the prefix? By tradition David and his court follow Moses by many centuries.

The prefix YW- or YHW is quite common in such names, though in most yahwistic personal names the divine name appears as a suffix. It does not change the meaning. Cf. Jonathan and N'tanyahu.

The suffixes -YHW or -YH have the same meaning; the first suffix is most prevalent in pre-exilic inscriptions such as seals or bullae. The second is exclusive in post-exilic inscriptions.

A similar trend appears in biblical texts, but more gradually.


Uri Hurwitz


Hi Uri
I have always been interested in the custom of theophorics and what appears to be a pattern. During the 1st temple period, there was no problem voicing the name of God. When the theophoric was a prefix to a name, it appears to have been יְהֹו "Yeho" (yod-tsere) such as Yeho-shua, Yeho-nathan, Yeho-sef, Yeho-Yakhin, and as a suffix, Yirmi-yahu, Yesha-yahu, Hizqi-yahu. Inscriptions on bullae or LMLK impressions reveal the full suffix theophoric, i.e. חִזְקִיָּהוּ hzqyhw while the Biblical translations are "HezekYAH. I think the 2nd temple prohibition on the Shem haMeforash resulted in truncations, such as Ye-shua for Yehoshua, Yo-sef for Yeho-sef, Yesha-ya for Yesha-yahu (Isaiah). Does anyone else see this pattern for theophoric use and its altered praxis post-exilic? Does the prefix YE-ho and suffix YA-hu tell us anything about the actual voicing of YHWH?

Jack Kilmon






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