The interior vav in a vav nun suffix recalls the birth of Judaism in the
mid-14th century BCE, when Canaan was, for a very short time, largely ruled by
non-Semitic princelings whose homeland was Naharim in eastern Syria. Their
non-Semitic linguistic footprint consists of (i) geographical place names
that end with consonantal vav/W, and (ii) notoriously long suffix sequences
that often included we-ni, which would be –WN in early Biblical Hebrew -- a
vav nun suffix. As to geographical place names, up to 21% of the items on
the mid-15th century BCE Thutmose III list of places in greater Canaan may end
in vav, and up to 26% of the place names in the Amarna Letters may end in
vav. The Biblical Hebrew equivalent is place names ending in vav nun,
because after the non-Semitic lords from Naharim suddenly vanished from Canaan
at
the end of the 14th century BCE, their old place names ending in consonantal
vav were amended by the Hebrews by adding a final –N. About 26% of the
geographical place names that appear at least 10 times in the Bible end in –WN
[including Megiddo, which ends in archaic vav]. Note the continuity from
the mid-15th century BCE to the end of the Biblical period: from 21% to 26%
of the geographical place names, both in the Bible and in Late Bronze Age
non-biblical sources, end in vav or vav nun. That interior vav in the vav nun
suffix is of critical importance. It was originally a true consonant, being
a non-Semitic consonant at that.
As to Biblical Hebrew common words and personal names, an amazing 40% of
them that end with a vav nun suffix are in the oldest part of the Bible, the
Patriarchal narratives. That’s because that we-ni non-Semitic phenomenon, or
–WN suffix element, was so prominent, briefly, in Canaan at the birth of
Judaism.
Scholars err in seeing the vav in a vav nun suffix as being a late addition
by a 1st millennium BCE editor. No way! Why would a late editor focus on
putting vav nun suffixes in the Patriarchal narratives? That makes no sense
on any level. Rather, the interior vav in a vav nun suffix in many cases
goes all the long way back to day #1, to the Late Bronze Age, when Judaism
was born during that brief, tumultuous, dangerous period of time when much of
Canaan was ruled by non-Semitic lords whose original homeland was Naharim in
eastern Syria. Their non-Semitic linguistic footprint is all over the
Bible. In the Patriarchal narratives, we see it in the concentration of common
words and personal names having a vav nun suffix, where that interior vav,
which in fact is a non-Semitic true consonant, is inexplicable to scholars.
And in the rest of the Bible, look at all those many geographical place
names that end in vav nun, even though in non-biblical sources from the 1st
millennium BCE that interior vav is conspicuous by its absence.
If you want to know how old and historically accurate the Patriarchal
narratives are, one of the most important linguistic clues is all those
magnificent interior vavs in the many vav nun suffixes.
Jim Stinehart
Evasnton, Illinois
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