George Athas:
You wrote: “You have not convinced me that there are Hurrians haunting the
hallowed halls of Hebrew….”
Well then let’s look at the first 7 XTY names in the Patriarchal
narratives. If, as you say, “Maybe we just have a text written in a time when
there
was a Judah?”, then a 1st millennium BCE author would have no reason (i)
to portray Abraham as buying Sarah’s gravesite from Hurrians [XTY] who are
landowners in south-central Canaan, and who have attested Hurrian personal
names [Ephron and Zohar] from the Late Bronze Age Hurrian province of Nuzi,
or (ii) to portray Esau’s first two wives [Judith and Basemath] as being
Hurrians with Hurrian fathers [Elon and Beeri], with such Hurrian women
having lived their entire lives in Canaan [per Genesis 27: 46], and with all
four such names likewise being attested Hurrian names from Nuzi. So let’s
analyze those first 7 XTY names in the Patriarchal narratives and ask if they
reflect the only time in 5,000 years of human history when the ruling class
of Canaan was dominated by Hurrian charioteers: the mid-14th century
BCE. We want to know (i) if the Patriarchal narratives date all the long way
back to the Bronze Age as a w-r-i-t-t-e-n text [in cuneiform], and (ii)
whether, in particular, the proper names in the Patriarchal narratives
[including the XTY names] are vintage Bronze Age names.
If the Patriarchal narratives were a written cuneiform text in the Late
Bronze Age, then we would expect plenty of references to the Hurrians, who
dominated the ruling class of Canaan in the mid-14th century BCE, per the
names of the princelings in Canaan in the Amarna Letters. Instead of always
referring to the Hurrians by their historical name, XRY, the early Hebrew
author usually referred to the Hurrians by a series of clever, apt Patriarchal
nicknames, based on attested Hurrian personal names. Of the six such
names at Genesis 15: 19-21, the most famous is XTY. XTY is the name of 92
Hurrian men at the Late Bronze Age Hurrian province of Nuzi: Xu-ti-ia. [Pp.
64-65.] [All page references are to Gelb and Purves, “Nuzi Personal Names”
(1943).] Note the letter-for-letter match, once it is realized that, per
the analysis of scholar Edward Lipinski, Hebrew yod/Y is being used to
render the Hurrian true vowel A as its own separate syllable [and separate
cuneiform sign], and in final position is often -ia or -ya or -a-a.
Here are the first 7 XTY names, all of which are closely based on attested
Hurrian personal names, that one sees in the Patriarchal narratives:
1. “Hittite” : XTY : Xu-ti-ia. Genesis 15: 20
2. “Ephron” : (PRWN : E-pi-ri-i(n)-ne. Genesis 23: 8
3. “Zohar” : CXR : Cu-xa-ar. Genesis 23: 8
4. “Judith” : YHWDYT : A-xu-ú-di-ia-T. Genesis 26: 34 [Final -T is
the feminine ending.]
5. “Elon” : )YLN : I-la-nu. Genesis 26: 34
6. “Bashemath” : B$MT : Ba-$i-ma-T. Genesis 26: 34
7. “Beeri” : B)RY : Bi-ir-ia. Genesis 26: 34
All 7 Biblical Hurrian names feature letter-for-letter spelling accuracy,
once one realizes what conventions were adopted, out of necessity, for the
Biblical Hebrew rendering of Late Bronze Age Hurrian names.
Notes: Attested Hurrian names at Nuzi that are the basis for the above 7
names, and how the cuneiform originals, recorded in rural Canaan by a scribe
retained by the tent-dwelling first Hebrews in the mid-14th century BCE,
were transformed 700 years later into alphabetical Hebrew by a Jewish scribe
in late 7th century BCE Jerusalem.
1. XTY. [This name was analyzed in the prior two posts. -yod/Y in final
position is -ia, being the cuneiform sign I.A, which was a universal
theophoric in Hurrian, Egyptian and west Semitic names in the Amarna Letters.
It is especially commonplace in Hurrian names. See also #4 and #7.]
2. (PRWN. The root, (PR, is the root of name E-pi-ri -- tu attested at
Nuzi [p. 47]. [The -tu is the feminine ending for this woman’s name, with
the root being E-pi-ri.] Hebrew ayin/( is used to render the Hurrian true
vowel E as its own separate syllable in initial position. The same basic
root, but without the initial vowel, is found in the name Pi-ri-e -- en-ni [p.
115], which has the same ending as the Biblical Hurrian name here. For
words and names based on this Hurrian word for “lord”, the individuating
suffix is formed by a -Vn-ne ending, where V stands for whatever vowel
precedes this ending; that is the concept of the Hurrian anaptyxe vowel.
Starting
with the form Pi-ri-e, the -Vn-ne suffix is -en-ni [because the preceding
vowel was E], resulting in Pi-ri-e -- en-ni. If instead we start with
E-pi-ri, then adding the -Vn-ne suffix results in: E-pi-ri-i(n)-ne. [Hebrew
always drops the first of doubled Hurrian consonants.] With Hebrew vav/W in
third or fourth interior position being the Hurrian anaptyxe vowel, so that
it’s the same vowel as whatever vowel immediately precedes it,
E-pi-ri-i-ne is rendered: (PRWN, exactly as appears in the text at Genesis
23: 8.
With the exception of prosthetic aleph [in #5 and #7 below], each Hurrian
syllable/cuneiform sign is rendered by one Hebrew letter.
3. CXR. An attested Hurrian woman’s name at Nuzi is Cu-xa-ar -- ti-ya
(p. 181), where -ti is a feminine ending, and -ya is an express theophoric.
The root is Cu-xa-ar, which is the man’s Hurrian name CXR at Genesis 23: 8.
4. YHWDYT. Analyzed in two prior posts. [The Hebrew vav/W in third
interior position may be the Hurrian anaptyxe vowel discussed in #2 above.]
Alternatively, if the -Y- is a xireq compaginis [as discussed in a prior
post], then the name would be simply HWD-Y –T.
5. )Y-L-N. 5 different men at Nuzi had the Hurrian name I-la-nu [p. 68].
Aleph/) is always prosthetic in the Hebrew rendering of Hurrian names.
Here, )Y in initial position = the true vowel I as its own separate
syllable.
6. B$MT. The root, B-$, is Bi-$a or Ba-$i, which is the root of the
following attested man’s name at Nuzi: Bi-$a -- at-ta [p. 112]. B and P are
interchangeable for this name in Hurrian. The same root, spelled with a P,
is Pa-a$-$i, which is the root of the woman’s name Pa-a$-$i -- i$-$e at
Nuzi [p. 112]. Instead of the most common Hurrian theophoric, -ya, which
appears in the Nuzi name Pa-a$-$i -- ya, here in this Biblical Hurrian name we
have -ma as the Hurrian theophoric suffix. [As an example of -ma and -ya
having the same function, the following two names at p. 131 have the same
meaning, differing only in whether -ya or -ma is used as the theophoric
suffix: $e-en-ni-ma vs. $e-en-ni-ia.]
7. B-)R-Y. The root, B-)R, is Bi-ir, which is the root of the attested
Hurrian name Bi-ir -- zu at p. 115. The ending is the standard Hurrian
theophoric suffix -ya. In the Hebrew rendering of Hurrian names, aleph/) is
always prosthetic, and when followed by a consonant, it just indicates a VC
syllable/cuneiform sign, without mandating any particular vowel. Here, )R
= ir.
* * *
XTY in Hebrew has nothing to do with the classic Hittites of eastern
Anatolia.
(PRWN is not a west Semitic name with the incongruous meaning of “Fawn”.
YHWDYT is not a west Semitic name with the incongruous and anachronistic
meaning of “Jewess”.
Rather, all 7 above names are vintage Hurrian names, which reflect with
breathtaking accuracy the well-attested history of mid-14th century BCE
Canaan. The Patriarchal narratives are much older as a w-r-i-t-t-e-n text
[in
cuneiform], and are much more historically accurate in a mid-14th century
BCE historical context, than scholars realize. One key to that critically
important determination lies in analyzing the XTY names in the Patriarchal
narratives, which are vintage Late Bronze Age attested Hurrian names.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
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