Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] "virgin" vs. "young woman"in Isaiah 7:14
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 18:00:57 -0500
On Fri, 01 Apr 2005 12:55:18 -0500 "Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>
writes:
> Søren:
>
> (LMH (also (LM in 1 Samuel 17, 20) when referring to a person
> indicates that the person is unknown. The root (LM has the meaning
> of being unknown, in hiphil the causitive meaning, i.e. to hide.
>
> When taken in the context of Genesis 4:1 (in American English that
> same wording was still used when I was young), the unknown one is
> by necessity a virgin, making (LMH the technical term for virgin.
> Either that, or the term refers to a stranger.
>
> (I think the terms use in Proverbs 30:10 refers to the unknown,
> not a person. The only arguments presented that I have seen that it
> refers to a person are not linguistic, but tradition. Hence I find
> them unconvincing.)
>
> If the present copies of the LXX are accurate copies of the
> original, then the LXX translated Isaiah 7:14 as virgin, i.e.
> before the NT interpretation.
>
> I am not going to argue the theological implications of this verse
> (e.g. some say that the virgin to whom Isaiah referred, was one
> standing near to Isaiah at the time he made the statement, with no
> expectation that she remained a virgin until after the birth of the
> child), but as a linguist, I see no good argument that (LMH was not
> the technical term for virgin, more so than BTWLH.
>
> Karl W. Randolph.
______________
Karl,
Actually, it does not mean "unknown" but rather "conceal" and in the
hiphil "conceal" or "hide." It never meant "virgin" but a young woman
who was sexually mature. Your etymologizing should at least be somewhat
more accurate even if the practice itself is, at best, questionable. I
would suggest that you read James Barr _The Semantics of Biblical
Language_
In regard to Peter's question regarding whether PARQENOS meant "young
woman", I would refer you to Liddell-Scott-Jones s.v. PARQENOS where this
meaning is noted in numerous contexts and which can be accessed on the
Perseus web site if you do not personally have it available.