A similar case is "Baal", which is both a common noun meaning "lord/master" and a proper name of a deity, known from both the Bible and a wide range of ANE inscriptions.
Yigal Levin -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of George Athas Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 9:17 AM To: B-Hebrew Subject: [b-hebrew] El: Common or Proper Noun? Kristian, I'm not sure your analogy works here. The noun אל is indeed common, but it often functions as a proper noun. Certainly that's the case outside the biblical literature. The question is whether this trend can also be found in the biblical literature. As yet, I have not found a specific argument that precludes it. Also, bear in mind that not everyone on B-Hebrew comes from a Christian background, so please be mindful of that when you address people on the list. You also should change the subject line to reflect the actual discussion. GEORGE ATHAS Director of Postgraduate Studies, Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au) Sydney, Australia From: sugiyarto Kristian <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:34:50 -0700 To: B-Hebrew <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] b-hebrew Digest, Vol 104, Issue 3 Dear brother in Christ "El" as "the chief of God' does not neccessarily to be a proper noun/name. Consider in militay system. "General" is the highest position compare to Leutnan, Major, and so on, but no doubt "General" is a common noun. Thus in the case of 'El" found in archeology we should need much more data how many words of El were treated in that. In Tanakh, El is absolutely common noun. There is no way one word can be both common and proper noun. Kristian H. Sugiyarto Indonesia _______________________________________________ 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
