Hebrew Name Research Articles

The Hebrew Names of the Seven Planets

THE traditional Hebrew names of the seven planets known in the ancient world are first attested in the Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat 156a), but there is also contemporary evidence for another set of names utilized by the Jews of the Later Roman Empire. The source for the latter is Epiphanius, the Bishop of Constantia (Salamis) in Cyprus from A.D. 367 until his death in A.D. 402. Epiphanius was born to Jewish parents at Bezanduca in the district of Eleutheropolis (Beit Jibrin) in Palestine. He was a polyglot known as a pentagl5ssos since he was acquainted with Hebrew, Syriac, Egyptian, Greek, and Latin. His transcriptions of the Hebrew names for the signs of the zodiac are the earliest recorded and are most accurate,' a fact which is now known from the various ancient synagogue mosaic-floors in Israel which have preserved these names in Hebrew. He also listed in his Panarion 15.2 (written about A.D. 377) the Hebrew names for the seven planets, some of which are unknown to us, while others correspond exactly to the Talmudic terms. Because of this partial correspondence and the accuracy of the zodiac-sign names as preserved by Epiphanius, there seems to be little reason to doubt the overall accuracy of his Hebrew planetname list.

Jewish religious practices related to childbearing

Practices related to childbearing and the postpartum period are influenced by religious beliefs and traditional customs. Among the Jewish people, these practices vary in accordance with the identification of the Jew with either an Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform group. The nurse-midwife must be familiar with the of her clients. The Jewish religion has a profound influence on the total life of the individual Jew. Specific laws govern the dietary habits, the important days of the calendar, marriage, and childbearing. Most of these religious laws are derived from statements in the Bible and the commentaries of the rabbis of old. Circumcision, one of the fundamental religious rites and ceremonies of Judaism, must be observed in a ritual manner on the eighth day after birth. At this time a Hebrew name is bestowed on the male child. A female child is named in the synagoque soon after birth. Members of the Jewish faith adhere to many different customs. It behooves the nurse-midwife to be familiar with some of the major concepts of the Jewish religion in order to better care for her Jewish clients and their families.

Papers On Lexicography in Honor of Warren N. Cordell (review)

Reviews175 verb agreement errors ("A comparison of the actual words show that 4 words have been added ..."). Stylistic infelicities ("the Kersey-Phillips is an expensive large folio with opposite the title page engravings . . . ") are far too numerous. The book, in short, should have been better edited. These censures should not, however, be taken as a condemnation of Kerling 's study as a whole; his work is a valuable contribution to the history of English lexicography. Roy R. Barkley Middle English Dictionary The University of Michigan Papers On Lexicography in Honor of Warren N. Cordell, edited by J. E. Congleton, J. Edward Gates, and Donald Hobar. Terre Haute: The Dictionary Society of North America, 1979. 185 pp. This volume, the first publication of the Dictionary Society of North America , emphasizes the history of (especially English) lexicography and lexicographical technique. M. Sue Hetherington writes on "Old English Lexicography : The First Eleven Decades, 1550-1659" (pp. 125-139) and Robert T. Meyer on "The Relation of the Medulla to the Earlier English Glossaries" (pp. 141-150). The Medulla is the pre-1400 Latin-English glossary known as the Medulla Grammatica, extant in sixteen 14th-15th century manuscripts. Also concerned with older English is William J. Cameron's "The Lexicon Technicum of John Harris" (pp. 93-108); this lexicon is the earliest alphabetical English encyclopedia. In "Attitudes Towards English Lexicography in the Seventeenth Century" (pp. 83-91), James A. Riddell is concerned with the inclusion of inkhorn terms: the source-language items in a Latin-English dictionary were often anglicized mechanically (their target-language definitions remaining more or less intact) and there were other ways in which words were created too. The main point in J. E. Congleton's "Pronunciation in Johnson's Dictionary " (pp. 59-81) is that "Johnson was the first English lexicographer to give sustained attention to the treatment of pronunciation" (p. 65), although his system was "rudimentary and ineffective" (p. 78). Allen Walker Read's "The War of the Dictionaries in the Middle West" (pp. 3-15) focusses on the Webster-Worcester controversy (1834-») in the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys and H. Rocke Robertson's Antoine Furetière: The Development of a Dictionary " (pp. 109-123) tells of a member of the French Academy accused (c. 1662—») of secretly writing a dictionary with material allegedly stolen from the Academy, of which Furetière was a member and which was then preparing a dictionary of its own. This volume has a section on dictionary collecting (pp. 153-177). Gene Freeman notes that "people who illustrate dictionaries seem to be able to remove all redundancy from the illustrations. Redundancy, of course, in concept formation, is really a sticky thing. So dictionary illustrations seem to me to be a rich source of material to use for research" (p. 162). I do not agree that redundancy is always removed or that it always can be. One may, it is true, depict a circle or a triangle without redundancy, but there is no canonical 176David L. Gold chair, cup, horse, locomotive, etc. Illustrations may or may not show typical habitat or background (for animals), which is redundant. It may not be true that "today . . . , as word coining is going on, the distribution of words that are coined is still the same as in the early dictionaries" (p. 162), that is, the percentage of words beginning with the same letter (phoneme or phoneme combination?) is stable over time. This percentage is a function of a language's inherited phonotactics (e.g., word-initial U- does not occur in Latin and the number of Latin-origin words beginning with yi- is therefore zero in Spanish) and of any possible other influences on the language (e.g., the few Spanish words beginning with yi- are all of non-Latin origin; see my "The Spanish, Portuguese and Hebrew Names for Yiddish and the Yiddish Names for Hebrew ," International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 24 [1980], 29-42). Freeman makes the interesting remark that "libraries are buying encyclopedias now because they consider these mirrors to a particular age. I think the dictionary is a more intensive mirror. ... In Webster's Third New International Dictionary, the emphasis is on science...

The Spanish, Portuguese and Hebrew Names for Yiddish and the Yiddish Names for Hebrew

Article The Spanish, Portuguese and Hebrew Names for Yiddish and the Yiddish Names for Hebrew was published on January 1, 1980 in the journal International Journal of the Sociology of Language (volume 1980, issue 24).

Three poems

Jerzy Ficowski, born 1924, has published seven collections of poems in Poland. He has also published stories, essays, and translations from Rumanian ( folk poetry), Romany ( Papusza), Spanish ( Garcia Lorca), and Yiddish. He is now on the editorial board of Zapis. He has written special studies of gipsy folklore and of Bruno Schulz. A major concern is the relation between Christians and Jews, to which his eighth collection of poems, Odczytanie Popiolów ( ‘Reading the Ashes’) bears witness; this collection, banned in Poland, was published earlier this year in England (in Polish). The following poems are taken from Reading the Ashes. The use of the Hebrew name of Jerusalem in the first poem indicates that the journey spoken of is spiritual. The ‘seven words’ of the second poem are both the Seven Words from the Cross and the seven words of a young victim at Belzec extermination camp; the poem reverses the familiar declaration in John's Gospel that the darkness could not contain the light. The third poem is a triumphant affirmation of life: thanks to a dose of Luminal (phenobarbitone) the baby survives to echo God's reply when Moses asked his name.

Millstätter Genesis 7,18 — Eine verborgene Namensetymologie?

The verse in question reads in the manuscript `wie die toten erde got hiez lebentich werden.' This thought is nowhere to be found in the context of an account of creation but belongs to the events accompanying the appearance of the Antichrist. The word-combination `die toten erde' is also unique; `lebendich' corresponds in this case to Gen. 2:7 `in animam viventem' and not to the more frequent Ps. 27:13, which was also translated into MHG. Therefore the manuscript offers a strikingly wilful text. It is a different matter with the wording which Diemer and Piper give in their editions and which has been held so far to be unintelligible: `wie die roten erde got hiez lebentich werden.' Understood in this way, the verse as a chapter heading contains the etymology of the Hebrew name Adam = `red earth, terra rubra,' which was handed down as early as Josephus, then in the Latin Middle Ages and later in German as well, and which outside of etymological lists has its place in the account of the creation of Adam, as in verse 7,18 of the Millstatter Genesis. On the basis of this etymology and its tradition it is to be assumed that the verse probably does not sever the extensive bonds of Early Middle High German literature with Latin texts, but rather that it was handed down in a corrupted form, perhaps because the scribe failed to understand the foreign etymology.

Three Hebrew Seals

The following three seals, of unknown provenance, are from the collection of General M. Dayan.! 1. A perforated scaraboid of limestone measuring 15 X 13 X 9 mm. (Fig. 1; PI. 30: 1). The inscription has two lines, divided by a double stroke: (Belonging to) Benayahu ';):l (son of) Geri. ,.,,, Both are common Hebrew names. For Benayahu, see Ene. Miqr. II:262 f. Geri is a hypoooristicon of Geriyahu; it is also known from a Hebrew seal (Avigad 1969:4) and appears in the Bible as Gera (see Ene. Miqr. II:543-550). The small stroke or half-circle at the end of the second line may indicate the abbreviation.2 The letters are well executed in the formal cursive script of the late 8th and 7th centuries B.C.£. 2. A perforated scaraboid of limestone measuring 15 X 13 X 7 mm. (Fig. 2; PI. 30:2). The lower part of the seal is damaged. Of the inscription's two lines, which are divided by a double stroke, only the upper line can be deciphered: (Belonging) to Eldag'~N~ [on ... ] [••.. )] Obviously, the last letter of the name was written III the second line, since its plausible completion is lN a name known from Ugarit (Gordon 1965:2011, 20; 2022,14). The script is similar to that of the previous seal, but less carefully incised. 3. A scarab of white chalk, measuring 15 X 12 X 8 mm. Fig. 3; PI. 30:3-5). The inscription consists of three lines, each successively shorter, in conformance with the shape of the scarab: (Belonging to Zerya'''i~

"Hey, You've Got No Character": Chizbat Humor and the Boundaries of Israeli Identity

ALL SOCIETIES CATEGORIZE the elements of their physical, social, and cultural reality. The materials of folklore, as one province of that reality, present no exception to this rule and are classified in accordance with various schemes, simple or complicated, depending upon the extent to which any given society attributes importance to its oral literature. Jewish culture has never lacked a large number of classificatory categories applicable to oral tradition, possibly because a significant portion of Jewish law, torah shebe'al peh, originally existed only in oral form. Since Biblical times, many literary categories at various levels of analysis have been distinguished, and all are applicable to oral forms: mashal (exemplum, proverb), agada (legend), midrash (homiletic interpretation), sippur (story), ma'aseh (tale), bedikha (joke), khida (riddle), khokhma (wisdom). All these categories bear a Hebrew name and reputable genealogy in the Hebrew lexicon. Since the Jewish resettlement of Palestine, a new oral literary category has crystallized, the chizbat.' It is immediately evident that this category sports an alien title, as [chj is not a Hebrew phoneme. The word itself is the sound feminine plural of the Palestinian Arabic chizba and means lies. This category of oral tradition was delimited at about the time of the formation of the Palmakh and was hence-

The unconscious: Your assistant minister

A pre-theological student reports a recurring dream: "I am at the pulpit in the church in which I grew up. I am aware that the congregation is filled with people who seem hostile. Suddenly, I 'm not sure whether I have any clothes oa under my robe. While reading the Old Testament lesson, I stumble over one of the long and complicated Hebrew names. Unable to go on, a man who had fought with my family when I was a child comes forward and leads me out of the chancel. The congregation divides into two groups. One group leaves and the second group follows my mother forward as she comes to me. I 'm not clear on whether she says ' I t 's all right,' or ' I told you that you couldn't do it.' As she speaks, she places a crown on my head. I realize that the crown is the ring that my father has worn for many years." It doesn't require a great deal of psychological sophistication to understand some of the anxieties with which this young man lives. He is unsure of his decision to become a clergyman. If he does, will he really be himself or will he be playing a part? Will he be able

The Religion of the Jews of Elephantine in Light of the Hermopolis Papyri

THE recently published Hermopolis letters contain over fifty Aramean and Egyptian personal names and provide valuable information on the private affairs of Aramean soldiers stationed at Syene.1 They also illuminate the religious affairs of the Jewish soldiers at Elephantine. Two points are noteworthy: (1) the presence of a single Hebrew name Shabbethai (Abty) b. ?wg (BK 4:10); (2) the presence at Syene of temples to Nabu (BK 1:1), Banit (BK 1:7, 2:1, 12, 3:1), Bethel, and the Queen of Heaven (mlkt 8myn [BK 4:1]). The first relates to the question of Sabbath observance by Jews and nonJews while the second relates to the cult of both Jew and non-Jew.

The history of the fig in the holy land from ancient times to the present day

The fig (Ficus carica L.)2 has been cultivated in the Holy Land for more than 5000 years. Its Hebrew name is "te'ena" and it is much the same in other Semitic languages: in Arabic "tin"; in Aramaic "teinta." The Latin is "ficus," most probably from a Hebrew source, from "paga," which means the unripe fruit. The Latin thereupon gives its different names to the fig in European languages: in French "figue"; in German "Feige"; in Italian "fico"; and in Spanish "higo." Before the fig was domesticated, it grew wild in the Holy Land, and the people chose the best varieties for cultivation. Even today, we often find the wild fig, or cultivated figs that have reverted to a wild state, in rock-crevices along water-courses-along the Jordan River and around the Dead Sea, for instance. Presumably they originate from seeds carried either by man or animal. In the excavations of Gezer, remnants of figs were found dating back to the Neolithic era (about 5000 B.C.). De Candolle says: "In our times the fig grows in a wild or semi-wild state over a wide area that has its centre in Syria (and the Land of Israel), that is to say, from Persia and Afghanistan all over the Mediterranean zone as far as the Canarv Islands." Other investigators are persuaded

Kinship Relationships Among the Early Hebrews

It would appear that the stories of the patriarchs fit authentically into the period of the second millenium B.C. rather than into that of any later period, so far as the evidence can inform us 1). More particularly, the narratives in Genesis chapters 12 to 50 reflect a period between the twentieth and the sixteenth centuries, though some scholars would place the patriarchal age considerably later (Cf. G. H. Gordan, Introduction to Old Testamzent Times (pp. 75, I02 ff.)). Important as evidence in this field are two factors, namely the early Hebrew names and the customs of the patriarchs, together with their general mode of life.

Nebuchadnezzar and Jerusalem

A CUNEIFORM text in the British Museum (B.M. 21901), published in 1923 by C. J. Gadd and commonly known as the Babylonian Chronicle, records events in years ten to seventeen of the reign of Nabopolassar, king of Babylon. The information it gives includes the date of the fall of Nineveh in the fourteenth year of Nabopolassar, 612 B.C. In 1956 D. J. Wiseman published several more tablets of the same type.' One of these (B.M. 21946) covers events from the twenty-first year of Nabopolassar to the eleventh year of Nebuchadnezzar, his successor. These years are equivalent to 605 to 594 B.C., and the record includes the battle of Carchemish and the first capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. The new material is obviously important in relation to biblical records of the same events and, in addition to the publication by Wiseman, several discussions have already appeared. A great deal has been clarified, but a completely consistent reconstruction of the history in terms of its biblical-Babylonian synchronisms does not appear to have been achieved yet. Edwin R. Thiele2 applies both Tishri-to-Tishri and Nisan-to-Nisan year reckonings, alters some assumptions in his well-known book,3 but reaches inconclusive results. Hayim Tadmor4 modifies Thiele's scheme in a new tabulation of great value, but finds Jeremiah 52:28-29 still enigmatic. A. Malamat finds it impossible to incorporate in his reconstruction the synchronism in Jeremiah 46:2. J. Philip Hyatt6 judges it necessary to employ both nonaccession-year and accession-year systems of calculation in order to reconcile the apparently disparate evidence. The present article will be a further attempt to understand the synchronisms and establish a consistent reconstruction of the history. The Babylonian system of dating in use at the time with which we are concerned is now well known. The year began in the spring and had twelve months. The order of these months and their names in both Babylonian and Hebrew are shown in the following table:

Interpretations of Hebrew Names in Origen

The work which F. Wutz 1 did on the interpretation of Hebrew names in Origen is of great value and interest. Among other achievements he gave a list of all the names in Origen with their interpretations and with references to where they are found in Origen's works,2 and he shewed how very difficult it is to believe that Origen can have been the compiler of an Onomasticon of N.T. names used by Jerome 3. He gave a list of all the etymologies which Origen owes to Philo4, and he conjectured that there existed before Origen's day a work on the meaning of the names of the Stations in the Wilderness given in the book of Numbers, known to Origen but not known to Philo, and that no complete O.T. Onomasticon existed in Origen's day and none was compiled by him 5. But Wutz was not dealing solely with Origen's interpretations and was not able to pay close attention to the details of his etymologies. A closer study of Origen's interpretations of O.T. names (the N.T. etymologies are not dealt with here) may produce some interesting results. That Origen derived some of his etymologies from Philo is indisputable. We need only recall his derivations of Shinar, of Jerusalem, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and of Israel6. It is

Versus de mensibus

In many medieval calendars the calendar proper for each month is preceded or followed by a verse (or several verses) treating of one (or one each) of the following subjects: (a)the zodiacal sign(b)the number of solar days(c)the number of lunar days(d)the position of the nones(e)the Greek, Hebrew, and Egyptian names(f)the Roman traditions of the name and significance of the month(g)the climatic conditions (aeris qualitates)(h)the evil days (dies Aegyptiaci).The study of medieval calendars has been so much preoccupied with their chronological and heortological aspects that, to my knowledge, these verses have never been the subject of a comprehensive investigation. In many editions they have been omitted as extraneous matter.

Archaic Vocalisation in some Biblical Hebrew Names

Archaic Vocalisation in some Biblical Hebrew Names

The Hebrew Names of the Essenes and Therapeutae

The Hebrew Names of the Essenes and Therapeutae

The Nominal Prefix n in Some Hebrew Names

The Nominal Prefix n in Some Hebrew Names

Commercial and Political Connexions of Ancient India with the West

There is not much evidence of regular commerce by sea between India and the Near East previous to about 700 b.c. The Bible (1 Kings x, 11; 2 Chron. ix, 21) speaks of Solomon (c. 1000 b.c.) as importing by sea gold and wood of almuggim or algummim trees from Ophir, likewise peacocks, the Hebrew name for which, tukki, comes from the Tamil tōgai, together with other things that were brought by the fleet of Tarshish. But Ophir cannot be located with certainty in India; almuggim or algummim are an unknown quantity (2 Chron. ii, 8, speaks of algum trees in Lebanon!); so perhaps these statements may be anachronisms. There is better evidence for an overland trade route. On the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser II (b.c. 860–825) are the figures of an Indian elephant and a rhinoceros brought as tribute to him by an Armenian tribe; and the Rig-veda (VIII, lxxviii, 2) mentions a golden manā, possibly the Assyrian maneh.

II. The Hebrew Names for "Ostrich"

II. The Hebrew Names for "Ostrich"