Jim, Places do not get their names out of thin air. Most (perhaps all) toponyms meant something at one time. Now it is possible that the original meaning is forgotten, and to the people of a later period the name is "just a name", but in the case of MOST biblical names, they seem to preserve the same meaning they had had since they were originally given, sometimes as early as the Middle Bronze Age, when Western-Semitic dialects were first used in Canaan.
Ayalon, Alon and Elon (with and without the Yod), as well as the feminine Elah, are types of trees. It does not really matter which tree is which or whether we even know which is which. The different terms may have been used for different trees (or even as a generic "tree", such as the rabbinic Hebrew use of Alon) in different periods (remember, we are talking about 1500 years at least). So let's not get bogged down with discussion on whether a particular form means "oak", or something else. So I would think that the place is named for the tree. The town of Ayalon is names after a tree. Exactly which tree, I don't know. Might it originally have been pronounced Aylon or Eylon, and sometimes spelled without a Yod? Maybe. Might there have also been an Ayalon/Elon etc. near Hebron, just like the Elon Beza'ananim near Kedesh in the Galilee? Why not? Since the MT often shifts between plene and defective spellings of the same word, and the Mesoretes (Sir Isaac's NQDNYM) filled in the nuqqud as best they could, with, in the case of proper names, no real grammar to guide them, I would not hang too much on the difference between forms such as Ayalon, Eylon and so on. So what are you trying to prove? Yigal Levin -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 2:20 PM To: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Aleph-Yod-Lamed-Vav Names George Athas: You wrote: “How many times are you going to post on this great mystery, Jim?” George, I would much prefer to get your expert input on the Hebrew grammar issue here. In the phrase WY$B B-)LN-Y MMR) at Genesis 13: 18, I have suggested that )LNY means both (i) “oak trees of” and (ii) “Aijalons of”. There were two places in the southerly eastern Aijalon Valley whose names had similar or identical spellings. At Joshua 19: 42-43, the spellings of these two places are identical in unpointed text, and using plene spelling, the spelling is: )YLWN. In defective spelling, certainly the interior vav/W would not be there. But the questions are (a) whether the interior yod was always there, especially for the small town in the south-central Aijalon Valley, and (b) whether the interior yod might in any event be dropped in masculine construct plural form. As to an interior yod in these types of names often dropping out, I have noted that the Hebrew judge’s name )YLWN at Judges 12: 11 drops the yod in the next verse, being )LWN at Judges 12: 12 [even though that same verse says that he was buried at )YLWN, with an interior yod]. As to the first point, I have noted that we might expect the Patriarchs’ favorite place to sojourn in southern Canaan to be remembered in the name of one of Jacob’s many grandsons, and at Genesis 46: 14, a son of Zebulun is )LWN, with no interior yod. If that is plene spelling, then the original, defective spelling in the Patriarchal narratives may well have been )LN. In my opinion, the Patriarchs may have sojourned near )LN and )YLN, being the two “Aijalons” in the Aijalon Valley. George, in your expert opinion, could )LNY at Genesis 13: 18 mean “Aijalons of”? I would love to get the opinions of people like yourself on the b-hebrew list as to this question. I myself see the secondary meaning of )LNY in masculine construct plural as being “oaks of”, and the primary meaning as being “Aijalons of”. George, any critique of the foregoing grammatical analysis of )LNY at Genesis 13: 18, by you or others, would be greatly appreciated. I am here to learn, like everyone else. Jim Stinehart Evanston, Illinois -----Original Message----- From: George Athas <[email protected]> To: B-Hebrew <[email protected]> Sent: Tue, May 3, 2011 12:13 am Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Aleph-Yod-Lamed-Vav Names How many times are you going to post on this great mystery, Jim? EORGE ATHAS oore Theological College (Sydney, Australia) ww.moore.edu.au _______________________________________________ -hebrew mailing list [email protected] ttp://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
