...
Judah is NOT part of the Negev (or Negeb). The noun "Negev" means "wiped
(dry)" and is used as the desert area adjacent to a settled area. ...
Is there any real evidence that this is ancient usage? I know it is
later Hebrew, Jewish Aramaic and Syriac usage, but this may well be
derived from the proper name Negev as the prototypical dried up land.
K-B (HALOT) appears to quote evidence from Soqotran, but that is rather
too remote in the absence of any other evidence in cognate languages. Is
it not just as likely that the noun originally meant "south", and later
came to be applied to a particular area cf. "the South"?
--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work) http://www.qaya.org/