Jim, I don't think that there is any reason to doubt that the name Tamar means "date palm". Why this particular woman was given this name is irrelevant. And "watomer" is the regular way to say "(she) said". It is possible that the writer of this particular text juxtaposed the two words so many time for dramatic effect, but I doubt that this could be proven.
Yigal Levin -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Saturday, August 18, 2012 6:50 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [b-hebrew] TMR T)MR TMR T)MR On three occasions in chapter 38 of Genesis we seeT)MR, where in context the meaning is “Tamar said”. Though we don’t literally see TMR T)MR in thetext, as that would be redundant, in effect TMR T)MR is there three times. T’MR at Genesis 38: 16 and Genesis 38: 17 isreferring to what TMR said when she (impersonating a prostitute) said that shemust get pledges from her customer/father-in-law Judah, and T’MR at Genesis 38:25 is referring to what TMR said at the climactic moment when Tamar later saidthat she still has Judah’s pledges. Thuswhat TMR T’MR/she said on those three occasions is how Tamar avoids gettingburned alive. Is this a deliberate pun, where what TMR said, T’MR,is the key to defining Tamar’s role in Genesis, with the name TMR being ashortened form of T’MR and meaning “she said”? Whereas “date palm tree” is irrelevant to the storyline, what “she said”[TMR T)MR] is of critical importance to the storyline at Genesis 38: 16, 17,25, because at those three places T’MR is used to indicate critical things thatTMR said. If TMR had not T’MR/said twiceto Judah that she needed a pledge, and if TMR had not T’MR/said later to Judahthat she still had his pledge, TMR would have been burned alive. Is it possible that the intended Hebrew meaning ofthe name TMR at chapter 38 of Genesis is a shortened form of T)MR, meaning “shesaid”? TMR T)MR: “she said” [TMR T)MR] twice that she needed apledge from Judah, and then later “she said” [TMR T)MR] that she still hadJudah’s pledge, thereby avoiding getting burned alive. TMR T)MR, three times over, is essential tothe storyline of chapter 38 of Genesis, and may be the intended Hebrew meaningof the name “Tamar”: TMR T)MR. Jim Stinehart _______________________________________________ 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
