Aramaic Names in Genesis

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Jim Stinehart
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Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2013 11:33 am

Aramaic Names in Genesis

Post by Jim Stinehart »

Aramaic Names in Genesis

A minor wife from eastern Syria in the Patriarchal narratives should have an Aramaic name. The name should not be a Hebrew name, because few Canaanites (or relatives of the Hebrews) lived in eastern Syria. And the name should not be a Hurrian name, because a Hurrian bride (such as Esau’s first two wives) would be a main wife, not a minor wife.

It’s obvious that both of Jacob’s minor wives are from eastern Syria, so Bilhah and Zilpah should have Aramaic names. And if, as we shall see is indeed the case, Abraham’s minor wife Keturah is likewise portrayed in the Biblical text as being from eastern Syria, then her name should also be Aramaic.

It’s no surprise that the names of all three minor wives end with the standard west Semitic feminine ending. It was pronounced A; it was spelled H/he/ה in Hebrew; and it was spelled -a in Aramaic. So the last letter in the names “Bilhah”, “Zilpah” and “Keturah” is, not surprisingly, Hebrew H/he/ה.

1. Bilhah

(See Genesis 29: 29; 30: 3-5.)

“Bilhah” : בלהה : BLH -H : blh -H. Aramaic meaning: “Perfumed”.

blh = “perfume flask” in Aramaic.

Please note the letter-for-letter spelling accuracy.

[By the way, all of the Aramaic words on this thread can be checked out at the Aramaic Lexicon here: http://cal1.cn.huc.edu/.]

Regarding the name “Bilhah”, it is important to note that this name has nothing to do with the following Aramaic words that have a similar spelling: bly = “worn out, old”. bl’h may mean “dregs” or “clump”. Some versions of that Aramaic word may have been spelled blh. The spelling of those words is similar, but the meaning does not make good sense for a woman’s name.

By contrast, blh = “perfume flask”: that has both the exact spelling, and a sensible meaning for a woman’s name.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
Jim Stinehart
Posts: 352
Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2013 11:33 am

Re: Aramaic Names in Genesis

Post by Jim Stinehart »

2. Zilpah

(See Genesis 29: 24; 30: 9-10.)

“Zilpah” : זלפה : ZLP -H : zlp -H. Aramaic meaning: “Adorned”.

zlp = “to adorn”.

Once again, as with the Aramaic name “Bilhah”, we see letter-for-letter spelling accuracy. And once again, the meaning makes good sense for a woman’s name. In Aramaic, the name “Bilhah” means “Perfumed”, and the name of Jacob’s other minor wife from eastern Syria, “Zilpah”, means “Adorned”. Both names have exact spelling accuracy in Aramaic.

When we get to the name “Keturah” next, and ask if she, like Bilhah and Zilpah, is a minor wife who came from eastern Syria, we will be sure to ask the same two linguistic questions. (i) Is there exact spelling accuracy as to Aramaic common words? (ii) Does the name make good sense in Aramaic for a woman’s name?

Perhaps I should also mention that none of these three names is a Hebrew name (or a Hurrian name).

So far, so good. Minor wives from eastern Syria in the Patriarchal narratives should have Aramaic names, and that is certainly the case for both Bilhah and Zilpah. But what about Keturah?

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
Isaac Fried
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Re: Aramaic Names in Genesis

Post by Isaac Fried »

The post biblical root זלף ZLP is a variant of דלף, 'bring out, spray, drip, trickle, sprinkle'. Both are members of the family of roots
שלב
דלף, זלף, טלף, סלף, צלף, שלף
Today, מזלף = מה-זלף MA-ZLEP is 'sprayer, fragrance mister, drop dispenser'. So, Zilpah is an appropriate name for a fragrant lady.

Isaac Fried, Boston University
Jim Stinehart
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Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2013 11:33 am

Re: Aramaic Names in Genesis

Post by Jim Stinehart »

Isaac:

You rely on a post-biblical Hebrew root to assert: “Zilpah is an appropriate name for a fragrant lady.”

But Jacob’s minor wife from eastern Syria, who had been Leah’s servant, is neither a Hebrew nor a Canaanite. Thus Zilpah should not have a Hebrew name, much less a post-biblical Hebrew name. Rather, “Zilpah” should be an Aramaic name. Any minor wife from eastern Syria in the Patriarchal Age should have an Aramaic name. [By contrast, a main wife from eastern Syria might have a Hebrew name, if she were a blood descendant of Abraham’s father Terakh, and/or in any event she might have a Hurrian name. But a minor wife from eastern Syria in the Patriarchal Age should not have a Hebrew name (or a Hurrian name), but rather should have an Aramaic name.]

That’s why I assert the following: “Zilpah” : זלפה : ZLP -H : zlp -H. Aramaic meaning: “Adorned”. This is an Aramaic name based on the following Aramaic common word: zlp = “to adorn”.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
Isaac Fried
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Re: Aramaic Names in Genesis

Post by Isaac Fried »

What is the Biblical Hebrew word for "adorn"?

Isaac Fried, Boston University
Jim Stinehart
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Re: Aramaic Names in Genesis

Post by Jim Stinehart »

Isaac:

1. You wrote: “What is the Biblical Hebrew word for ‘adorn’?”

I would suggest עדה, as at Isaiah 61: 10.

This Biblical Hebrew word is sometimes translated by KJV as “adorneth” or “bedeck”.

2. As a point of contrast, consider now the name of Esau’s first [Hurrian] wife, being a name that has absolutely befuddled scholars. The formal, original, Hurrian name of Esau’s first Hurrian wife at Genesis 26: 34 is horribly mis-transliterated by KJV as “Judith”. [This Hurrian woman, born in Canaan in the Late Bronze Age during the short historical time period when Hurrian princelings largely dominated Canaan, wasn’t a “Jewess”, for heaven’s sake!] Esau shortened and Semiticized his first wife’s Hurrian name “Judith”, while also managing to make it into a pet nickname for his first Hurrian wife that has a fine meaning in Hebrew as well: עדה : “Adah”. Genesis 36: 2. The Hebrew meaning of the woman’s name עדה : “Adah” is said by Gesenius to be “ornament, beauty”. The Hebrew meaning of the woman’s name עדה : “Adah” could just as easily be said to be “adorn” or “adorned”.

3. But Zilpah should not have either a Hebrew name or a Hurrian name. As a minor wife from eastern Syria (who was Leah’s servant), the name “Zilpah” should be an Aramaic name. So her name, meaning “Adorned”, should not be the Hebrew woman’s name עדה : “Adah” [a name which is also a shortened, Semiticized version of the Hurrian woman’s name “Judith”]. No, her name needs to be an Aramaic name (not a Hebrew name or a Hurrian name) that means “Adorned” in Aramaic, namely זלפה : zlp -H : “Zilpah”.

The pinpoint historical accuracy of the Patriarchal narratives is truly stunning. (Why can’t the scholarly community see that?)

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
Jim Stinehart
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Re: Aramaic Names in Genesis

Post by Jim Stinehart »

3. Keturah

(See Genesis 25: 1-2, 6.)

“Keturah” : קטורה : QṬWR -H : qṭwr -H. Aramaic meaning: “Strongly Bound”.

In a later post, we can explore my contention that the Patriarchal narratives portray Keturah as being from eastern Syria. It’s certain that Keturah is a minor wife. And as we have seen with Jacob’s minor wives Bilhah and Zilpah, a minor wife from eastern Syria should have an Aramaic name. In this post, however, we will focus solely on linguistic issues. As to the name “Keturah”, (i) is there exact spelling accuracy as to an Aramaic common word that underlies this name; and (ii) does the name then make good sense in Aramaic for a woman’s name?

qṭwr = “a blow”. Since the Aramaic root (per the Aramaic Lexicon referenced in my first post on this thread) of qtwr is qṭr, meaning “to bind”, qṭwr likely means “a blow” in the sense that it takes “a blow” by a hammer on a nail to “bind” two things together, thus connoting “forcibly bind” or “strongly bind”.

It is my opinion that the conventional etymology of the name “Keturah” is only partially correct. The conventional view correctly identifies the Aramaic root of “Keturah” : קטורה : QṬWR -H as being qṭr, meaning “to bind”. But then the conventional view cites the following word derived therefrom: the Aramaic word qṭrh, which means “bond” in Aramaic. Note, however, that there’s no letter-for-letter spelling accuracy if the Aramaic root of “Keturah” : קטורה : QṬWR -H is qtr or qtrh.

No, what’s needed in order to have letter-for-letter spelling accuracy here is the Aramaic word qṭwr, meaning “a blow”.

True, at first glance, a meaning of “a blow” might not seem fitting for a woman’s name. But since the root of qtwr is qtr, meaning “to bind”, the Aramaic word qtwr must mean “a blow” in the sense that it takes “a blow” by a hammer on a nail to “bind” two things together. Accordingly, qtwr would seem to have the intended meaning of “forcibly bind” or “strongly bind”. As a woman’s name, that could imply that the woman is “strongly bound” to God, and/or that she will in due course become “strongly bound” to her husband. As such, the name in both cases has a positive meaning and is fitting as a woman’s name.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
Jim Stinehart
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Re: Aramaic Names in Genesis

Post by Jim Stinehart »

Keturah: The Back Story

Keturah is one of the most misunderstood women in Genesis.

In my prior post, we saw that based on linguistics, everything makes sense about the name “Keturah” if and only if this minor wife of Abraham is from eastern Syria. In that event, and only in that event, it makes perfect sense that “Keturah” is, letter-for-letter, an apt play on an Aramaic common word. Per my prior post: “Keturah” : קטורה : QṬWR -H. This Aramaic name is based on the Aramaic common word qṭwr, meaning “a blow”, in the sense (based on its Aramaic root qṭr, meaning “to bind”) that it takes a “blow” by a hammer on a nail to “bind” two things together, thus connoting “forcibly bind” or “strongly bind”.

But now let’s move on to the fascinating back story of Keturah, which will show that she indeed did come from eastern Syria, where the servant class (who would become minor wives, not a main wife, for a wealthy Semite like Abraham) spoke pre-Aramaic in the Late Bronze Age (and spoke Aramaic for many centuries thereafter).

1. When Did Abraham Marry Keturah?

The romantic, traditional view that Abraham did not marry Keturah until after Abraham’s main wife Sarah had died makes no rational sense. True, the author of the Patriarchal narratives does not tell us the details of Abraham’s marriage to Keturah as a minor wife until after he has already told us of Sarah’s death and burial. But the text never says that it was after Sarah died when Abraham later married Keturah.

It is important to note in this connection that as a minor wife, Keturah’s sons could not be Abraham’s proper heir. So in Abraham’s gut-wrenching 30-year quest (in 12-month years) to sire a son as a proper heir by Sarah, the fact that during that long time period he sired many sons by minor wives, including 6 sons by Keturah, is largely irrelevant. It does confirm for us that Abraham was not lacking in virility. And by sending away from Canaan all of his many sons by minor wives, that does re-confirm that Abraham’s sole heir to Canaan was Isaac -- Abraham’s only son by Abraham’s only main wife, Sarah.

It is not possible that Abraham waited until after Sarah’s death to marry Keturah, because 37½ shaneh (18.75 years in 12-month years) after Isaac’s birth, when Sarah died, Abraham would have been too old, at age 68½ years in 12-month years, to begin a process of siring six sons by Keturah. With there being no twins, it likely took at least 12 years (assuming that Keturah, as a minor wife, did not have a wet-nurse) for Abraham to sire 6 sons by Keturah; that would make Abraham age 80 (in 12-month years) at the last son’s birth if Abraham had waited to marry Keturah until after Sarah died. Not. Please note that when Abraham was age 49½ in 12-month years (age 99 shaneh, going on age 100 shaneh), each of Abraham (Genesis 17: 17) and Sarah (Genesis 18: 12) explicitly says that Abraham was already, at that point, almost too old to be siring a son.

Rather, Keturah was one of the “souls” (Genesis 12: 5) that Abraham acquired, as a minor wife, when he was briefly staying at Harran in eastern Syria with his grief-stricken father Terakh (who ended up staying at Harran the rest of his life). Focusing briefly on the number 37½: (i) Abraham was age 37½ in 12-month years when, it is implied, he married Keturah (as a minor wife in eastern Syria at Harran); (ii) Abraham was likewise age 37½ in 12-month years when, soon thereafter, he passed through Canaan with Sarah (and Keturah) and went to Egypt; (iii) Sarah died 37½ shaneh (18.75 years in 12-month years) after Isaac’s birth; and (iv) Rebekah was age 37½ years (in 12-month years) when she sent her younger twin son Jacob out east to Harran in eastern Syria to stay with Rebekah’s brother Laban.

2. Keturah’s Sons Were Sent Out of Canaan East to Keturah’s Homeland in Eastern Syria

“But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.” Genesis 25: 6.

It would make no sense for Abraham to send his sons by Keturah “eastward, unto the east country” of eastern Syria, unless that was Keturah’s homeland.

Moreover, Keturah had given two of her sons names (mis-transliterated by KJV as “Midian” and “Medan”) that are shortened versions of the Late Bronze Age name of Keturah’s homeland in eastern Syria: “Midtanni”.

* * *

We see that, as per usual, everything makes complete sense in the Patriarchal narratives. Abraham married Keturah, and sired six sons by her as a minor wife, when Abraham was young enough to be siring sons in due course. Moreover, we can readily determine that this minor wife of Abraham came from eastern Syria (where the servant class spoke pre-Aramaic in the Late Bronze Age), based on the following three factors: (i) “Keturah” is an Aramaic name; (ii) Abraham sent his sons by Keturah out of Canaan east to eastern Syria; and (iii) Keturah had given two of her sons names that are variants of the country name “Midtanni”, which in the Late Bronze Age was the name of the country that at that time was a great power state in eastern Syria.

As I was saying, everything makes perfect sense in the Patriarchal narratives: linguistically, logically, historically, and by the numbers as well.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
Isaac Fried
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Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2013 8:32 pm

Re: Aramaic Names in Genesis

Post by Isaac Fried »

The name QTURAH is also appropriate for an aromatic, מקוּטרת M-KUTER-ET, lady.

Isaac Fried, Boston University
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