Prof. Yigal Levin:
You wrote: “Jim, can you give us one additional example in biblical
Hebrew, in which a group of towns named after a geographical (or any other)
object
are collectively called "the X..,s of...". We don't find all of the "hills"
of Benjamin (Geba, Gibeah, Gibeon and their variables) named collectively
"Geba'ot Binyamin". The closest there is is "Havvot Yair", but we do not
really know what a "Havvah" is.”
1. It is rare in both English and Hebrew to see a proper name in the
plural, but when needed, both languages have that. In English we rarely say “
Davids”, but we can say it: “There are not two Davids in the Bible; there’s
only King David.” Likewise in Biblical Hebrew, for the most part there is
little occasion to use a plural form of a proper name (where the proper name
is normally in the singular), but on occasion, the Bible does just that.
For example, it has often been claimed that (BRYM, meaning “Hebrews”, at
Genesis 40: 15 is the plural form of the proper name (BR, or “Eber”, at
Genesis 10: 21. Although many of us reject that proposed etymology, I don’t
think anyone rejects it on the basis that a Hebrew proper name cannot have a
plural form. A Biblical author could refer to the “Ebers”, meaning either
more than one person named “Eber”, or the tribe associated with “Eber”. To
do so, the Biblical author would simply start with the singular form of the
proper name, and then add on the regular plural ending. For a man’s name,
the plural ending would be -YM. That was not done frequently in the Bible,
but it was possible.
Consider now that all the proper names at Genesis 10: 13-14 are plural in
form. E.A. Speiser at p. 68 of “Genesis” (1962) comments: “All the names
in these two verses have the plural form in -im, thereby emphasizing the
ethnic character of the entries.” Of particular interest here, note that
PTRWS,
at Isaiah 11: 11, is a proper name in normal singular form, but at Genesis
10: 14 the plural of such name is formed by adding -YM, resulting in
PTRWSYM. Likewise, at Jeremiah 47: 4 we see in singular form the proper name
KPTWR, whereas at Genesis 10: 14 we see the plural of such proper name, KPTRYM
[dropping the interior vav/W].
Although “Caphtor” is not the name of a specific town, it is the name of a
country. See Deuteronomy 2: 23, Jeremiah 47: 4 and Amos 9: 7. Genesis 10:
14 uses a plural form of that proper name. Based on how the rest of the
Table of Nations works, that plural form of Caphtor seems to be the name of an
individual, though emphasizing ethnicity. The point is that a geographical
place name can definitely have a plural form.
So as a matter of Hebrew grammar, it seems clear to me that a Hebrew proper
name, which is singular in normal form, can have plural forms where
appropriate. Accordingly, though extremely rare, we could see a masculine
plural
construct form of a proper name, such as a geographical place name, in
Biblical Hebrew, where appropriate.
2. The author of the Patriarchal narratives does more punning than any
other author in the Bible. Thus he insists on punning on every single name of
Jacob’s 12 sons, including some puns that, but for his explicit explanation,
would never have been guessed, such as the pun he comes up with for “Reuben”
. An author like that is precisely the kind of author who would use a pun
at Genesis 13: 18, where )LNY on one level means “oak trees of”, but on
another level )LNY means “Allons/Elons of”.
3. Your reference to Joshua 13: 30 is very helpful: XWT Y)YR. In regular
form, XWH is feminine, with the classic feminine ending. The feminine
construct plural would be expected to be XWT. It is routinely translated as “
towns of Jair” or “villages of Jair”. So to me, that’s an excellent
example of this phenomenon. It is possible that XWH may be only a common word,
not necessarily a proper name, but in context, XWT Y)YR seems to be
functioning as a proper name. Thank you so much for that cite.
4. Although not in the plural, it is commonplace in the Bible to use
singular construct forms in geographical place names. An example is )LWN MWRH
at
Genesis 12: 6. In masculine singular construct, the letters usually do not
change, so “oak” and “oak of” have the same letters. )LWN TBWR is the
same format at I Samuel 10: 3.
5. The fact that the form )LNY MMR) is rare is probably why analysts have
missed it. Since the main Allon or Elon is spelled without an interior yod,
as )LWN, it’s not surprising that there’s no interior yod in )LNY. The -Y
ending often causes an interior vav to disappear. Thus although Hebron is
XBRWN, Hebronist is XBRNY, without the interior vav. Accordingly, the
absence of the interior yod and of the interior vav is readily explicable, and
indeed is fully expected.
To me, )LNY MMR) obeys all the ordinary rules of Hebrew grammar for meaning
both “oak trees of Mamre” and “Allons/Elons of Mamre”.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
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