Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Isaac Fried:

You wrote:  “I tend to think that the fraction אש of אשבל E$BEL is the theophoric E$ or IY$, appearing as A$ in the name אשר A$ER (=E$-OR?), and as IYS in the name ISRAEL.”

O.K., but what everyone wants to know, however, is how you interpret in Hebrew the names “Rachel” and “Leah”.

1.  [“Rachel”]: RXL : RX -L : RX -)L

Responding to your stern admonition that most names in the ancient world featured a theophoric, I have interpreted the final lamed/L in Rachel’s name as being a theophoric, namely an abbreviated form of )L/“El”.  If so, then instead of meaning “Ewe” as ordinarily supposed, the intended Hebrew etymology and meaning of the name “Rachel” as RXL : RX -L : RX -)L is:  “Millstone of God”.

How do you interpret the name “Rachel”?  Do you see it as having a theophoric?

2.  [“Leah”]: L)H : L -)H : L -)X

Just as it would not make sense for the name “Rachel” to mean “Ewe”, it likewise would not make sense for the name “Leah” to mean “Cow”.  Those two women aren’t cattle, they aren’t treated like cattle, and they don’t act like cattle.  On the contrary, rather than being passive and docile like cattle, to their credit each such woman is aggressive and assertive to a fault, and is revered therefor.

Once again proceeding on the basis of your stern admonition that most names in the ancient world featured a theophoric [I sure hope you’re not going to abandon that view that you forcefully asserted], I see the Hebrew etymology and meaning of the name “Leah” as being comprised of two separate Hebrew common words.  The first is lamed/L, which means “belonging to” in a wide variety of senses.  Then we need a theophoric, and there it is, once we recognize that in cuneiform writing [which is how all these names in the Patriarchal narratives would have been originally recorded, if these names are really, really old and were reduced to writing way back in the Bronze Age], there was no difference whatsoever between he/H and heth/X.  So interpreting the he/H in the received alphabetical text here as originally having been intended in the original cuneiform text as being a heth/X, the second half of Leah’s name is )X.  That’s the Hebrew common word for “brother”, and in proper names “brother” is routinely a theophoric, meaning “the divine Brother”, that is, God.

So the intended Hebrew etymology and meaning of the name “Leah” has nothing whatsoever to do with “Cow”, but rather as L)H : L -)H : L -)X means:  “Belonging to the divine Brother”, that is, “Belonging to God”.

How do you interpret the name “Leah”?  Do you see it as having a theophoric?

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Isaac Fried, certainly you don’t interpret the names “Rachel” and “Leah” as meaning “Ewe” and “Cow”, do you?  Shouldn’t we be looking for theophorics, and thereby coming up with decent Hebrew etymologies and meanings for these two names?

Jim Stinehart

Evanston, Illinois