Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

George Athas wrote:  “...or not”.

 

Based on that perceptive remark, let’s see if we can analyze the name of Esau’s first wife, a XTY at Genesis 26: 34, on the basis that the yod/Y at the beginning of such name may not be a xireq compaginis.

 

Although -a [or -a-a or -ia or -ya] is ubiquitous as a theophoric suffix for Hurrian names, on occasion A- can function as a theophoric at the beginning of a name.

 

Five different women at Nuzi had Hurrian names that begin A-xa.  That fits the YH at the beginning of the name of Esau’s first wife.  [Hebrew yod/Y renders the Hurrian true vowel A as its own separate syllable and cuneiform sign.  He/H and heth/X are alternative Hebrew alphabetical renderings of the cuneiform sign XA or XU, though heth/X would be better here;  Hurrian has no he/H.] 

 

Now consider the following two men’s names at Nuzi, which presumably are identical in meaning, with the only difference being whether the theophoric is at the beginning or at the end.  There’s a man’s name A-xi-ú-ti.  That fits YHWD, as the first four letters of the name of Esau’s first wife.  [W is the true vowel accented U, and D appears instead of T.  Remember from my prior post that it is attested at Nuzi that Xu-ti can be Xu-di, and that Xu-ti-ia can be Xu-di-ia, so there’s no trouble with D interchanging with T for this name.]

 

Now consider that A-xi-ú-ti may well be identical in meaning to the attested male name Xu-ti-ia, which could be Xu-ú-ti-ia [since Xu-ti is alternatively attested as Xu-ú-ti].  It’s just that the theophoric comes at the beginning in A-xi-ú-ti, while coming at the end in Xu-ti-ia

 

So we’re well on our way to seeing the name of Esau’s first wife as being A-xi-ú-di-ia feminized : YHWDY-T : [a woman’s name meaning] “Teshup, Praise Teshup”.

 

The last question then is this.  Could a Hurrian woman’s name have that theophoric [Hebrew yod/Y representing A- and -ia] both at the beginning and at the end?  Although very rare, it’s possible!  At p. 10 of Gelb Purvis “Nuzi Personal Names”, we see the Hurrian woman’s name A-xa-xu-ia, which seems to have that re-duplicated theophoric.  [Though the reading is not clear, at p. 50 we may see basically the same name, this time being a man’s name, where the initial theophoric has been dropped:  Xa-xa-a-a -- Eri$.]  Thus in very rare cases, a Hurrian woman’s name might have a theophoric both at the beginning and at the end. 

 

If that is the case here, then the meaning of the name of Esau’s first XTY wife is “Teshup, Praise Teshup”, and she is of the “Praise Teshup”/XTY people.

 

By George, I’ve think we’ve got it!

 

Jim Stinehart

Evanston, Illinois