Re: Telach
in reply to a message by Swiff
I think Comay has good reasons not to give a meaning.
M.Noth says, the biblical text is corrupt and we should read SHUTELAH instead - but then does not give a meaning of that name.
The Hebrew dictionary has nothing to offer that even from afar looks like TELAH or SHUTELAH.
However, various books with biblical names do give meanings, and I wonder where they take them from:
TELACH: fracture, strength
SHUTELAH: upheaval, crashing of a lightning, plantation (“shut” in Hebrew) of Telah
Very obscure, I should say ...
M.Noth says, the biblical text is corrupt and we should read SHUTELAH instead - but then does not give a meaning of that name.
The Hebrew dictionary has nothing to offer that even from afar looks like TELAH or SHUTELAH.
However, various books with biblical names do give meanings, and I wonder where they take them from:
TELACH: fracture, strength
SHUTELAH: upheaval, crashing of a lightning, plantation (“shut” in Hebrew) of Telah
Very obscure, I should say ...
Replies
Yes, that is obscure. Thank you anyways, Andy!
I think that at least two possibilities should be studied, regarding the name of Shutelah:
1. Four-consonantal roots are rare in Hebrew, and some of them are loanwords.
2. Since Shutelah is son/descendant of Ephraim, born in Egypt (and even Ephraim had an Egyptian mother), an Egyptian origin of the name should be searched for. There are a few Egyptian words from that period, like PINHAS (Phineas, „dark skinned”), SHA‘TNEZ (mixt stuff, „false woven”, Lev 19:19) etc.
3. It is also possible that the word SHUTELAH was originally the name of an animal not mentioned in the Bible. Some animals in Hebrew are called by four-consonantal words: ARNEBETH (hare), TAHMAS (ostrich?), TINSHEMETH (white owl; chameleon), ‘ATALEPH (bat), HARGOL (kind of locust), ‘AKBAR (jerboa).
1. Four-consonantal roots are rare in Hebrew, and some of them are loanwords.
2. Since Shutelah is son/descendant of Ephraim, born in Egypt (and even Ephraim had an Egyptian mother), an Egyptian origin of the name should be searched for. There are a few Egyptian words from that period, like PINHAS (Phineas, „dark skinned”), SHA‘TNEZ (mixt stuff, „false woven”, Lev 19:19) etc.
3. It is also possible that the word SHUTELAH was originally the name of an animal not mentioned in the Bible. Some animals in Hebrew are called by four-consonantal words: ARNEBETH (hare), TAHMAS (ostrich?), TINSHEMETH (white owl; chameleon), ‘ATALEPH (bat), HARGOL (kind of locust), ‘AKBAR (jerboa).