LIBRARY OF HEBREW BIBLE/ OLD TESTAMENT STUDIES 418 Formerly Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series Editors Claudia V. Camp, Texas Christian University Andrew Mein, Westcott House, Cambridge Founding Editors David J. A. Clines, Philip R. Davies and David M. Gunn Editorial Board Richard J. Coggins, Alan Cooper, John Goldingay, Robert P. Gordon, Norman K. Gottwald, Gina Hens-Piazza, John Jarick, Andrew D. H. Mayes, Carol Meyers, Patrick D. Miller, Yvonne Sherwood This page intentionally left blank THE TRANSFORMATION OF BIBLICAL PROPER NAMES Jože Krašovec Copyright © 2010 by Jože Krašovec All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher, T & T Clark International. T & T Clark International, 80 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038 T & T Clark International, The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX T & T Clark International is a Continuum imprint. Visit the T & T Clark blog at www.tandtclarkblog.com A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN-13: 978-0-567-45224-5 ISBN-10: 0-567-45224-7 06 07 08 09 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Abbreviations xi INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter 1 ETYMOLOGICAL EXPLANATION OF PROPER NAMES IN THE HEBREW BIBLE AND THE HISTORY OF THEIR FORMS IN BIBLE TRANSLATIONS 4 1. Etymological Explanation of Proper Names in the Hebrew Bible 6 2. Etymological Translation of Two Namings of Eve 8 3. Etymological Translation of the Toponym Babel 11 4. Etymological Translation of the Place Names Attah El-roi and Beer-lahai-roi 12 5. Etymological Translation or Explanation of the Personal Names Moab and Ben-ammi 15 6. Etymological Translation of the Place Name Beer-sheba 16 7. Etymological Translation of the Place Name Adonai-jireh 18 8. Etymological Translation of the Place Names Esek, Sitnah, Rehoboth and Bethel 21 9. Etymological Translation of the Place Names Jegar-Sahadutha, Galeed, Mizpah and Mahanaim 22 10. Etymological Translation of the Place Names Peniel / Penuel and Succoth 25 11. Etymological Translation of the Place Names El-bethel and Allon-bacuth 26 12. Etymological Translation of the Toponym Abel-mizraim 28 13. Etymological Translation of the Place Names Marah, Massah and Meribah 29 14. Etymological Translation of the Place Names Taberah, Kibroth-hattaavah and Hormah 32 15. Etymological Translation of the Place Names Bochim, Ramath-lehi and En-hakkore 35 16. Etymological Translation of the Place Names of Ebenezer and Sela-mahlekoth 37 vi The Transformation of Biblical Proper Names 17. Etymological Translation of the Proper Names Baal-perazim and Perez-uzzah 39 18. Etymological Translation of the Toponym Beracah 41 19. Conclusion Concerning Folk Etymology in the Hebrew Bible 42 20. Conclusion Concerning Folk Etymology in Bible Translations 44 21. LUB and DAL in Relation to the Original, to the LXX and the Vg, and to the Established Traditions 47 22. General Conclusion 51 Chapter 2 TRANSLITERATION OR TRANSLATION OF PROPER NAMES IN BIBLE TRANSLATIONS 55 1. Substitutes for the Divine Personal Name yhwh or Its Transliteration 57 2. Substitutes or Transliteration in Construct Expressions of Divine Names and Appellatives 58 3. Transliteration or Translation of Terms Denoting the Underworld 61 4. The Giants Nephilim and Rephaim 63 5. The Monstrous Animals Behemoth and Leviathan 65 6. Symbolic Names of Hosea’s Children 67 7. The Symbolic Name of Isaiah’s Second Son 69 8. Etymological Translation of the Proper Names Philistines and Goiim 70 9. Etymological Translation of the Proper Names Aram-naharaim and Paddan-aram 71 10. Etymological Translation of the Proper Names Moreh and Moriah 73 11. Etymological Translation of the Proper Name Machpelah 75 12. Etymological Translation of the Proper Name Shephelah 76 13. Supposed Etymology of Harmagedon 79 14. General Conclusion 80 Chapter 3 TRANSMISSION OF SEMITIC FORMS OF BIBLICAL PROPER NAMES IN GREEK AND LATIN LINGUISTIC TRADITIONS 84 1. Historical and Linguistic Factors of Forms of Biblical Proper Names 86 a. The Source Text (Vorlage) of Ancient Translations 87 b. General Observations on Transliteration Issues 89 2. Transliteration of Semitic Consonants into Greek 95 a. The Semi-vocalic Consonants Waw and Yod 97 b. The Gutturals Aleph, He and (cid:2)eth 97 c. The Guttural Letter Ayin 99 Contents vii d. The Sibilant Letters Samekh, (cid:2)ade and (cid:2)in/Šin 100 e. The Doubling of Single Consonants in Transliteration into Greek and Latin 101 f. Single and Double Kaph, Qoph, Pe and Taw in Transliteration into Greek and Latin 101 g. Insertion of Consonants and Transcription of the Semitic Clusters (cid:2)(cid:3), ›(cid:3), (cid:4)(cid:5) and (cid:4)(cid:6) 102 3. Transliteration of Semitic Vowel Letters and Vowel Signs into Greek and Latin 103 a. The A-sounds in Hebrew/Aramaic and in Transliteration 104 b. The I- and E-sounds in Hebrew/Aramaic and in Transliteration 105 c. The U- and O-sounds in Hebrew/Aramaic and in Transliteration 106 d. Transliteration of Hebrew Half-vowels into Greek and Latin 106 4. Transliteration from Hebrew/Aramaic and Greek into Latin 108 5. Reasons for the Existence of Variant Forms of Biblical Proper Names 118 a. Variant Forms in the Hebrew Bible 118 b. Reasons for Variants in the Greek and Latin Bibles 119 c. The Emergence of Errors in Transcription and Transmission of the LXX Text 121 d. The Establishment of a Greek Critical Text 123 e. The Establishment of a Latin Critical Text 125 6. General Conclusions 129 7. Comparative Expositions of the Forms of Biblical Proper Names 134 8. The Design of a Dictionary 136 Bibliography 140 Index of References 145 Index of Authors 151 This page intentionally left blank ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I had no intention of writing a study of this kind when I began dealing with biblical proper names (back in 1982). However, the idea of com- piling a dictionary of the forms of biblical proper names soon formed as I began to standardize these names for the new Slovenian translation of the Bible (SSP), a work which was completed and published in 1996. This study has been directly in(cid:2)uenced by the translation project. At present, I am responsible for the preparation of the Slovenian Jerusalem Bible, meaning that observations made in the present study stem from my broader interest in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin linguistic traditions. From my research, it has become apparent to me that the forms of biblical proper names transmitted in the Bibles in these lan- guages are the important background of the forms used in every Bible translation in the world. The use of a comparative approach while reviewing recent Slovenian Bible translations brought about the realization that virtually all transla- tions of the Bible are more or less inconsistent in their “standardization” of the forms of biblical proper names. This, it seems, is because transla- tors do not have at their disposal any comparative philological dictionary focusing speci(cid:3)cally on proper names. In addition to my work on the Slovenian Jerusalem Bible, I am engaged with the long-term project of compiling this much-needed dictionary of biblical proper names. However, the sheer volume of the comparative material that needs to be collated and arranged has resulted in the dictionary project taking longer to reach its (cid:3)nal form than was originally envisaged. Should the dictionary be completed in the foreseeable future, I would be happy to have it published by the publisher of the present work. I wish to record my warmest gratitude to T&T Clark International/ Continuum for accepting this study for publication. I am grateful to Professor Joseph Plevnik for greatly improving the English style, and especially to my copy-editor, Dr Duncan Burns, for his careful reading of the text from beginning to end, for his many valuable suggestions and for his compilation of the indices. 1