In early Biblical Hebrew, ssade/C can
be emphatic sin.
Consider in this regard the Hebrew verb
“to laugh” and the name “Isaac”.In
Genesis, they’re both spelled with ssade/C:CXQ and YCXQ.[The west Semitic
meaning of “Isaac” is “He Laughs”, but since his mother’s birth name is not
Semitic, his own name will have as its more profound meaning its non-Semitic
meaning:“He Sits Next to God”.]
But in late books in the Bible, “he
laughs” and “Isaac” are spelled not with a ssade/C, but rather with a sin/%:%XQ and Y%XQ.
Here are some Biblical cites.“[He] laughed”, spelled YCXQ with a ssade/C,
is at Genesis 17: 17.The name “Isaac”
is likewise spelled YCXQ with a ssade/C two verses later at Genesis 17:
19.By contrast, “[man is] laughed” is
spelled %XWQ with a sin/% [not a ssade/C] at Job 12: 4, and “Isaac” is spelled
Y%XQ with a sin/% [not a ssade/C] at Amos 7: 9.
That indicates that in early Biblical
Hebrew, ssade could be an emphatic sin, having a sound quite similar to sin.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Ilinois
[b-hebrew] Ssade Can Be Emphatic Sin,
jimstinehart, 11/18/2012