Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <Yigal.Levin AT biu.ac.il>]

This exchange, and George's comment as well, is actually fascinating. It shows how the study of "Biblical Hebrew" that is "done" (to borrow Donald's term) in academic institutions that are rooted in Church tradition is different than the way that Hebrew is learned within the Jewish tradition. Yes, Bruryah is correct – "gershaim" are commonly used in Rabbinic and later Hebrew to signify acronyms, AND grammarians, including Israeli school teachers, often use them to signify verbal roots as well, so that they won't be misread as a simple word (remember that most writing in Hebrew is done without niqqud). They are also commonly (but not universally) used to signify "gematria" – using letters for numbers. So 22 is כ"ב (Kaph " Bet).

 

Donald, who's been "doing" BIBLICAL Hebrew for thirty years, never heard of this convention, because the only Hebrew text he's ever read is the Bible, which of course has no acronyms and no discussions on grammar. But he's never (I assume) read the Talmud or any of the Medieval Jewish commentators on the Bible (at least not in Hebrew). And George, who probably is familiar with use of gershaim for acronyms, has not studied Hebrew grammar in Hebrew. (By the way, Donald and George, I'm just generalizing about what you have or have not studied. If I'm wrong I apologize). Pere seems to be familiar with this convention.

 

As I wrote – fascinating.

 

Yigal Levin

 

From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Donald Vance
Sent: Monday, September 02, 2013 9:48 AM
To: yodan AT yodanco.com
Cc: B-Hebrew Hebrew
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Can't find the root and meaning in the lexicon, any help?

 

I've been doing Hebrew for thirty years at major institutions and I've never even seen this use of quotation marks. It makes no sense to me. I find it in none if my grammars of lexica, for what it's worth. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 2, 2013, at 2:43 AM, Yodan <yodan AT yodanco.com> wrote:

Yes! A single “quotation mark” (garshayim) is used before the last letter in acronyms, and a root is an acronym, here standing for Beit-Heit-Nun.

 

Braryah Tashah