Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>]

  As always, Yigal knows his material. However, one
 can add the following observation: of the hundreds
 of place names in the Heb. bible, only a small
 number end in -ayim, whatever this suffix means.
 As he points out, in a few cases the dual represents
 only one alternative.

   Micrayim may well be a case of a dual, since the
 ancient Egyptians under the Pharaohs distinguished
 between 'upper' and 'lower lands' of  Egypt. 

  It is also not an accident that the Arabs,
 who entered that country long after Pharaonic Egypt
 ended, named the country  Misr, which is sing,
 and call it by this name to this day. Dual forms
 exist in Arabic of course.

  I have no opinion about the etymological development
 of Mem Carei Resh root, nor about the MT 'Yerushalayim'
 vocalization, except the assumption that the -ayim
 suffix is late. In my opinion the LXX transliteration,
 is closer to the original name, as is the much
 much earlier mention in the execration texts.

  As for the source of the name Syria, Uzi, two
 people gave different amswers. I'm familiar only
 with the one given by Yigal. 

  The most delightful part of these exchanges was
 John's report that even nowadays people responded
 to a "bi adoni" greeting.

  Uri Hurwitz