Those who are interested in evidence for diachronic development of the language of the Hebrew bible may wish to check the following paper.
Names in the Study of Biblical History: David, YHWH Names, and the Role of Personal Names by Francis I. Andersen and Richard S. Hess Buried History Monographs - BHM 2 Australian Institute of Archaeology, 2007 From Charles Halton's blog Awilum.com December 7, 2007: "It is a grand total of 20 pages but it is packed with information and very valuable bibliography–they provide extensive bibliography for personal names in the languages/geographic areas Akkadian, Ammonite, Amurrite, Aramaic, Ebla, Emar, Hebrew, Hittite, Hurrian, Phoenician, 2nd Millennium names from Palestine and vicinity, Ugaritic, and other West Semitic names. In this monograph Andersen and Hess survey the historical and literary distribution of the spellings of YHWH elements in names as well as the spelling of David. [2 statistical charts omitted; see http://awilum.com/?p=458] Although there are supporting supplementary comments, here is their conclusion: 'The books of the Old Testament present accurately the changing fashions in Hebrew names. The long forms of names ending with the name of God (-yhw) were prominen t during the monarchy, and were completely replaced by -yh forms after the Exile. The short spelling of David was in vogue before the Exile, the longer form after. The Bible and the archaeological evidence are the same. If the material in Genesis-Kings was largely concocted after the Exile, as some scholars now claim, and the invented characters were given the names current in their own day, we would expect the popular -yh names to be used throughout. Genesis-Kings accurately preserves the changes in Hebrew names corresponding to linguistic and cultural changes in the Israelite communities. The authenticity of the Bible in this specific matter is established by external evidence.' " What should be emphasized is the correspondence between the biblical and extra-biblical evidence in this case. Uri Hurwitz Great Neck, NY _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
