Compound Words in the Septuagint Representing two or more Hebrew Words

Abstract

Greek, like other Indo-European languages, has several kinds of compound words (CWs). The LXX translation also contains CWs, and as biblical Hebrew does not have such composites, the relation between Greek CWs and their Hebrew equivalents is analyzed. The choice of given CW as an equivalent for certain Hebrew word-pair is often found to be consistent with the lexical equivalents used elsewhere in the LXX. The use of CWs cannot be predicted since the translators approached this issue in different ways. Some internal evidence indicative of the translators' approach to the use of CWs may be inferred from the distribution of CWs in books of LXX as well as from selected examples. Some of the CWs are designated as 'neologisms of the LXX'. Sometimes one of the words of a Hebrew word-pair is represented both by one of the constituents of a CW and by a separate Greek word.Keywords: compound words (CWs); Greek word; Hebrew words; LXX translation; neologisms; septuagint