chavoux, philip, without looking at the data, i suspect that "baal/ishah" as husband/wife, with or without the article, is not too common in BH, as compared with "ish/eshet", though it is standard nowadays. i might be wrong.
as to "baal" the deity, i suggest the following distinction: "baal" relates to the deity name (parallel to kmosh, dagon etc), "ha-baal" relates to the whole associated cultural heritage and pantheon. but this article formation is singular and is not repeated with the other cults, except perhaps asherah?, maybe attesting to their great popularity at the time and/or indicating their specific canaanite origin. nir cohen >>> De: Chavoux Luyt <[email protected]> Para: [email protected] Data: Mon, 6 Aug 2012 18:45:06 +0200 Assunto: Re: [b-hebrew] יהוה vs הבעל Hi Philip Philip, > If I understand you right, your proposed meaning of ha-baal is the exact opposite of the way the definite article is used on a proper noun in Biblical Hebrew. It seems you are saying that when "baal" has the definite article, it is not a name, but "the husband". In English that would be true, but in Hebrew it is the opposite. Baal can be a word or a proper name. To refer to the name, Baal, rather than the word baal, in Hebrew you put the definite article on it. So Ha-Baal means Baal the idol (unless the context might refer to a previously-mentioned husband). Baal without the definite article is usually the word baal, meaning husband, etc. _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
