Abstract
The traditional literal interpretation of the text in Judges 11:37 shows exceptional variation in topographic depiction. The literal interpretation of Driver, published in Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, is an example. From a linguistic perspective, no attention was paid whatsoever to the relation of interiority between an objective body and an objective space. This article proposes a cognitive semantic perspective and argues that the motion-path verb ירד (yrd) in Judges 11:37 carries a metaphorical meaning, and the linguistic processing, that is, the metaphorical mapping of the image schematic structure of CHANGE (up-down) as the source domain onto that of BEHAVIOUR as the target domain, involving activation of cultural spatial and bodily systems. With this background in mind, Judges 11:37 represents a new understanding for similar UP-DOWN image schemas applied in the Hebrew Bible.Contribution: This article contributes to the understanding of the apparent ‘inexact’ sense of the use of ירד (yrd) in Judges 11:37.
Highlights
The literal interpretation of Judges 11:37, within the traditional ancient Near Eastern spatial-topographical orientation of ‘up’ and ‘down’, evokes for the reader a description of an incompatible visual imagery of mental simulation, but differs in the Bible translators’ literal translation of the phrase ( ְו ֵא ְל ָכה ְו ָי ַר ְדִּתי ַעל ֶה ָה ִריםweelekāh weyāradtîal hæhārîm).1
Within the Cognitive Semantic approach to the study of language, the traditional view that meaning derived from the literal interpretation of the words in an expression becomes inadequate, and what is necessary to understand the nonmetaphorical and metaphorical meaning of words is a theory of background information and language usage
Applied to the text in Judges 11:37, the categories and operations for structuring the linguistic expression ( ְו ֶא ְבּ ֶכה ַעל ְּבתּו ַליweæbkæh - ʿal - betûlay) (‘and I will bewail upon my virginity’) are as follows: Category axiality directed shif =
Summary
The literal interpretation of Judges 11:37 (example [1]), within the traditional ancient Near Eastern spatial-topographical orientation of ‘up’ and ‘down’ (as depicted in traditional dictionaries) (see Holladay 1988:143), evokes for the reader a description of an incompatible visual imagery of mental simulation, but differs in the Bible translators’ literal translation of the phrase ( ְו ֵא ְל ָכה ְו ָי ַר ְדִּתי ַעל ֶה ָה ִריםweelekāh weyāradtîal hæhārîm). The literal language approach towards Judges 11:37 implies that without a specific utterance context, native speakers of English (and the translator of the ancient text) informally define ‘went down’ as relating to real horizontal motion in a downward direction along the vertical axis. This literal language approach to meaning construction is evident in, for example, the lexical entry for ( ירדyrd) in A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Holladay 1988:143):. But he came down to meet me (at) the Jordan
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