To: "'Yigal Levin'" <Yigal.Levin AT biu.ac.il>, <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Hiram Hirom Huram
Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2012 10:01:48 -0700
Yigal, Shalom,
Thank you! Helpful information.
I knew about HIRAM = AHIRAM but I didn't know about AH(I) or AV(I) being
epithet for the deity. Do you have more information about this? I can see
why one would refer to a deity as "father", but why "brother"?
Toda rabba,
Bruryah Tashah
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[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Yigal Levin
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 9:17 AM
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Hiram Hirom Huram
Other than in Isaac's reconstructions - no. The usual assumption is that
Mount Hermon was called that because it was considered sacred by the local
Canaanites (or whoever).
As far as Hiram, it is usually considered to be a shortened form of Ahiram,
a fairly common Phoenician and Hebrew name, literally meaning "my brother is
exalted", where "brother" is an epithet for the deity, similar to
"Ab(i)ram", "Ah(i)ab" and so on. So the name Hiram is actually not derived