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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] The Name "Esau"

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  • From: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
  • To: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] The Name "Esau"
  • Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 11:45:57 -0400

The editor of Genesis new very well what עשו means. He even resorted to 
a little sly visual obfuscation by writing ayin for aleph, and waw for bet, 
to turn the alien אשאב or אישאב into עשו, a clever spelling modification to 
take both the eye and the mind away from idols and into thinking about עשב 'grass'. 

The theophoric איש I$ is very common, as in ישמעאל I$MAEL, שמעון 
$IMON, אכיש AKIY$, כמוש KMO$ (KMO-I$?), and many more.

Likewise the theophoric אב AB.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Aug 28, 2013, at 10:13 AM, JimStinehart AT aol.com wrote:


“Esau
. There is an odd displacement of etymology in the naming sentence [Genesis 25: 25], perhaps because the writer was not sure what ‘Esau’ actually meant.”  Robert Alter, “Genesis” (1996), p. 127.




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