1. I am sorry, but I have to ignore everything you are saying about
"Hurrian", as I have no way of independently verifying its veracity.
2. I agree that רבק RBQ is a variant of רבץ RBC, 'crouch',
so that עגל מרבק EGEL MARBEQ, is possibly, indeed, a constrained
calf intended for fattening. The root RBQ is also a variant
of רבך RBK, 'soaked' as in Lev. 6:14
על-מחבת בשמן תעשה מרבכת תביאנה
Also רפק RPQ (as far as I can remember from school RAPIYQ in Arabic
is 'friend') as in Song 8:5
מי זאת עלה מן המדבר מתרפקת על דודה
KJV:
"Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her
beloved?"
(Notice the beauty of the Hebrew MITRAPEQET as compared with the
lackluster English "leaning".)
3. RGL is the root of REGEL, 'foot, leg', related to רכל RKL.
4. I am unable to deny that the names RIYBQAH, RAXEL, LEAH, are
apparently names of sheep of a different nature and disposition:
plump, lean, jumpy, aloof, loving, etc.. But I admit that I have
never tended sheep.
5. If you want to see the RIYB- of RIYBQAH as meaning רב RAB,
'large, superior', you certainly have the right to suggest it.
6. It is indeed remarkable that the "sheepy" RIYBQAH, RAXEL, LEAH
gave their children names (under the influence of their husbands?)
that are obviously all theophoric.
7. The -LIY in נפתלי NAPTALIY is possibly אלי -ELIY, 'my EL'
Isaac Fried, Boston University
On Sep 2, 2013, at 5:30 PM, [email protected] wrote:
Isaac Fried:
1. You wrote: “I would hate to spoil such pastoral, cute and
naive names given by keen eyed herders to their daughters. So I
would leave it at….”
Isaac Fried, do you really think that these three Matriarchs are
being called “cattle”? “Fat calf”, “jumpy young sheep”,
and “heavy, pregnant sheep”, which are what you offer below, are
not fitting names for these three fine Hebrew Matriarchs. Rather
than being passive and meek, all three are exactly the opposite!
Rebekah wears the pants in the family, and unilaterally prohibits
her husband Isaac from giving Isaac’s grand blessing to Isaac’s
favorite son Esau. Leah forces her husband to impregnate her with
yet another son by the adroit use of a mandrake her young son
Reuben had gathered. And Rebekah assertively demands that her
husband Jacob provide her with sons. In no way, shape or form are
these three Matriarchs passive and meek like “cattle”. And why
would you think their parents would give them such unprepossessing
names as that?
Moreover, you’ve totally abandoned your former focus on looking
for theophorics in ancient names.
2. You wrote: “RIBQAH from the root RBQ, from which we have the
עגל מרבק EGEL MARBEQ, 'fat calf?', of 1Sam. 28:24.
MRBQ actually refers to “a stall in which cattle are tied up”,
with the root RBQ in turn referring to the “tying up” of
animals. Why would that be a fitting name for Bethuel to give to
his only daughter? And what would such a name tell us about
Rebekah? I myself do not see how those Hebrew words would suggest
that Rebekah will “ensnare” a man by her beauty. Moreover,
Rebekah does not “ensnare” Isaac anyway. Rebekah volunteers to
travel all the long way to Canaan from eastern Syria, and Isaac
joyfully accepts his previously unseen bride. As usual with so
many personal names in the Patriarchal narratives, John
Mckenzie’s “Dictionary of the Bible” says as to the name
“Rebekah”/RBQH: “etymology uncertain”.
More likely is that Bethuel married a Hurrian woman in Bronze Age
eastern Syria, who gave their daughter a Hurrian name. RB is erbe
in Hurrian, meaning “a noble”. -qa is an honorific Hurrian
suffix. -H is a Biblical Hebrew convention for showing that a
foreign, non-Semitic name has been Semiticized. So the Hurrian
meaning of RB -Q -H fits Rebekah perfectly: “an honored noble
woman [who has adopted west Semitic-speaking Canaan as her new
homeland]”.
As to the west Semitic/Hebrew meaning that Bethuel would appreciate
[which I know is the only meaning you’re interested in], consider
that the qof/Q that is used in the Hurrian meaning might have to be
stretched a little bit for the west Semitic/Hebrew meaning. -Q
sounds quite a bit like -)X. If that stretch is made, then the
meaning becomes apparent. RB means “great” in Hebrew. )X
means “brother” in Hebrew, and in a proper name means “the
divine Brother”, that is, “God”. [Isaac Fried, you seem to
have abandoned your former insistence on looking for theophorics,
but I’m still doggedly following your original advice.] -H is
obviously the Hebrew feminine ending for a woman’s name. So if -Q
can be stretched a bit to be viewed here as representing -)X in
Hebrew [so that there will be a theophoric], then the meaning of
the name RB -Q -H : RB -)X -H is: “Woman [who knows and asserts
that] God Is Great”.
That’s a much better west Semitic/Hebrew meaning for the name
“Rebekah” than “fat calf”. And besides, neither RBQ nor
MRBQ means “fat calf” anyway, but rather refer in Hebrew to
the “tying up” of an animal.
3. You wrote: “RAXEL, like רגל RAGEL, a jumpy young sheep.”
At Psalm 15: 3, KJV translates RGL as: “backbiteth”. What a
horrible name for lovely Rachel! Rachel’s name is not RGL, and
it’s not RXL as a single word. Rather, it’s RX -L, where the
final lamed is a theophoric: )L. Rachel is not a “backbiter”!
4. You wrote: “LEA, a heavy (pregnant?) sheep. Compare Is.
40:11. כרעה עדרו ירעה בזרעו יקבץ טלאים
ובחיקו ישא עלות ינהל. KJV: ‘He shall feed his
flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and
carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with
young.’ ”
Perhaps I misunderstand what you’re saying here. As I note in my
response to Nir Cohen’s post, you seem to be trying to tie L)
H/“Leah” to (WL, meaning a “ewe” or “cow” that is
nursing. But (WL is not at all like L)H as to the Hebrew letters
involved. [However, perhaps I have completely misunderstood you.]
Much better is to analyze the name “Leah” as follows: L)H : L-)
H : L -)X. Then we’ve got our theophoric, and Leah has the
following fine Hebrew etymology and meaning of her name:
“Belonging to God”.
5. You wrote: “I find it still noteworthy that there is an L in
RAXEL, LEA, ZILPA and BILHAH.”
Yet your explanations above involve nary a single theophoric.
6. You wrote: “The great challenge is the name נפתלי
NAPTALIY.”
Why don’t you think that the stated etymology at Genesis 30: 8
makes sense?
7. I myself don’t see any of the Matriarchs as bearing names that
signify “cattle”. One could not find a group of women who are
less docile and meek than the revered Hebrew Matriarchs, who
instead are, to their credit, aggressive and assertive to a fault.
With the Matriarchs’ names not being attested outside of the Bible
in west Semitic, surely these Biblical names must have a grander
meaning than “cattle”.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
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