The way in which the academic study of Biblical Hebrew as a language should be conducted is contested. In light of the current debate and the engagement in this question of some of the articles in this issue (viz. Naudé & Miller-Naudé, Holmstedt, Robar, Hardy, Ehrensvärd, Rezetko, and Young, and Noonan), we provide in this article a summary of the status of the debate and a programmatic proposal for the academic study of Biblical Hebrew as a language to move the debate forward. We argue that considering the study of Biblical Hebrew as a language from the vantage point of Complexity Theory is a fruitful approach. Biblical Hebrew as a language can then be analysed as a complex phenomenon whose component systems display interconnectedness, dynamism and emergence.
圣经希伯来语作为一种语言的学术研究应该如何进行是有争议的。鉴于当前的争论以及本期的一些文章(即naud & miller - naud, Holmstedt, Robar, Hardy, Ehrensvärd, Rezetko, and Young, and Noonan)对这个问题的参与,我们在这篇文章中提供了一个辩论现状的总结,并为圣经希伯来语作为一种语言的学术研究提供了一个纲论性的建议,以推动辩论向前发展。我们认为,从复杂性理论的角度考虑圣经希伯来语作为一种语言的研究是一种富有成效的方法。圣经希伯来语作为一种语言,可以作为一种复杂的现象来分析,其组成系统显示出相互联系、动态和涌现。
{"title":"A Programmatic Proposal for the Study of Biblical Hebrew as a Language","authors":"Cynthia L. Miller-Naudé, J. Naudé","doi":"10.25159/2663-6573/9103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6573/9103","url":null,"abstract":"The way in which the academic study of Biblical Hebrew as a language should be conducted is contested. In light of the current debate and the engagement in this question of some of the articles in this issue (viz. Naudé & Miller-Naudé, Holmstedt, Robar, Hardy, Ehrensvärd, Rezetko, and Young, and Noonan), we provide in this article a summary of the status of the debate and a programmatic proposal for the academic study of Biblical Hebrew as a language to move the debate forward. We argue that considering the study of Biblical Hebrew as a language from the vantage point of Complexity Theory is a fruitful approach. Biblical Hebrew as a language can then be analysed as a complex phenomenon whose component systems display interconnectedness, dynamism and emergence.","PeriodicalId":42047,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Semitics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45003687","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The relationship between linguistics and philology, within biblical studies, became a fraught issue when the Society of Biblical Literature proposed subordinating linguistics to philology. The larger concern is the integrity and integration of scholarship within biblical studies, which itself is related to the integration of scholarship within the academic world. The history of institutionalised scholarship suggests two potential paths for biblical studies: one in which each sub-discipline pursues relative independence and expands the field of knowledge from a detached, scientific vantage point, and one in which the role of the text in speaking to a community is sought in the context of relational knowledge.
{"title":"Linguistics, Philology and the Biblical Text","authors":"Elizabeth Robar","doi":"10.25159/2663-6573/8514","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6573/8514","url":null,"abstract":"The relationship between linguistics and philology, within biblical studies, became a fraught issue when the Society of Biblical Literature proposed subordinating linguistics to philology. The larger concern is the integrity and integration of scholarship within biblical studies, which itself is related to the integration of scholarship within the academic world. The history of institutionalised scholarship suggests two potential paths for biblical studies: one in which each sub-discipline pursues relative independence and expands the field of knowledge from a detached, scientific vantage point, and one in which the role of the text in speaking to a community is sought in the context of relational knowledge.","PeriodicalId":42047,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Semitics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46526303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The question of whether or not biblical texts can be dated chronologically remains a lively topic of debate, and one important part of the conversation is the use of loanwords for dating biblical texts. This paper examines the philological relationship between lexical borrowings and the date of biblical texts. By focusing on the Hebrew Bible’s non-Semitic vocabulary, it argues that loanwords both cannot and can be used to date biblical traditions. Negatively, there is no clear one-to-one correspondence between a loanword of a given type and the date of a biblical text. Positively, loanwords can be useful for dating biblical texts in certain circumstances: first, the relative number and type of loanwords can point to plausible historical circumstances of borrowing, and second, phonological and morphological features can establish an approximate terminus ante quem for the borrowing.
{"title":"Can Loanwords Be Used to Date Biblical Texts, and If So, How?","authors":"Benjamin J Noonan","doi":"10.25159/2663-6573/8461","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6573/8461","url":null,"abstract":"The question of whether or not biblical texts can be dated chronologically remains a lively topic of debate, and one important part of the conversation is the use of loanwords for dating biblical texts. This paper examines the philological relationship between lexical borrowings and the date of biblical texts. By focusing on the Hebrew Bible’s non-Semitic vocabulary, it argues that loanwords both cannot and can be used to date biblical traditions. Negatively, there is no clear one-to-one correspondence between a loanword of a given type and the date of a biblical text. Positively, loanwords can be useful for dating biblical texts in certain circumstances: first, the relative number and type of loanwords can point to plausible historical circumstances of borrowing, and second, phonological and morphological features can establish an approximate terminus ante quem for the borrowing.","PeriodicalId":42047,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Semitics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44906739","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this paper, we explore arguments concerning the disciplinarity of linguistics and philology as fields of academic knowledge. We begin with a brief historical overview of philology and linguistics. We then consider the question of whether linguistics and philology in the twenty-first century should be viewed as separate disciplines or as overlapping disciplines, or whether one discipline—philology—should be viewed as a superordinate discipline which subsumes linguistics.
{"title":"Linguistics and Philology—Separate, Overlapping or Subordinate/Superordinate Disciplines?","authors":"J. Naudé, Cynthia L. Miller-Naudé","doi":"10.25159/2663-6573/8573","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6573/8573","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we explore arguments concerning the disciplinarity of linguistics and philology as fields of academic knowledge. We begin with a brief historical overview of philology and linguistics. We then consider the question of whether linguistics and philology in the twenty-first century should be viewed as separate disciplines or as overlapping disciplines, or whether one discipline—philology—should be viewed as a superordinate discipline which subsumes linguistics.","PeriodicalId":42047,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Semitics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44447774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article addresses the question of what can be gleaned from the book of Jonah regarding the self-perception of its author(ship) and intended audience through a social-scientific analysis. What does the analysis of Jonah’s representation reflect of the self-perception of the Yehudite literati during or after the period during which the book was written? Firstly, an overview is given of what is known about the authorship of the book of Jonah and how the author(s) is related to the main character. This is followed by an overview of the values of honour and shame, and an application of how Jonah is represented in this regard. This analysis is then related to the self-perception of the author(ship) and audience for whom the book was written, due to their association with the main character.
{"title":"A Social-Scientific Analysis of the Representation of Jonah and the Self Perception of the Yehudite Literati during the Late Persian Period","authors":"J. Schäder","doi":"10.25159/2663-6573/7818","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6573/7818","url":null,"abstract":"This article addresses the question of what can be gleaned from the book of Jonah regarding the self-perception of its author(ship) and intended audience through a social-scientific analysis. What does the analysis of Jonah’s representation reflect of the self-perception of the Yehudite literati during or after the period during which the book was written? Firstly, an overview is given of what is known about the authorship of the book of Jonah and how the author(s) is related to the main character. This is followed by an overview of the values of honour and shame, and an application of how Jonah is represented in this regard. This analysis is then related to the self-perception of the author(ship) and audience for whom the book was written, due to their association with the main character.","PeriodicalId":42047,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Semitics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46848696","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Article Title: “Linguistics, Philology, and the Role of Theory”","authors":"W. Boshoff","doi":"10.25159/2663-6573/9063","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6573/9063","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42047,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Semitics","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43817183","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biblical Hebrew lqr't is situated at the intersection of grammatical categories as a content item and a function word. The analysis of any given token is confounded by this diversity and its variously encoded denotations: the infinitive construct “to meet” and the polysemous prepositions, the directional TOWARD and the adversative AGAINST. The usage in Exodus 14:27 (wmsrym nsym lqr'tw) prompts a number of different analyses. Interpretations include: hoi de aigyptioi ephygon hypo to hydor (LXX); wmsry' -'rqyn lqwblh (Peshitta); fugientibusque AEgyptiis occurrerunt aquae (Vulgate); “the Egyptians fled at its approach” (NJPS); “the Egyptians fled before it” (NRSV); and “the Egyptians were fleeing toward it” (NIV). This study examines lqr't by comparing a range of grammatical methods. These approaches centre evolutionary growth (philology), syntagmatic and paradigmatic features (structuralism), functional usage (eclectic linguistics), and cross-linguistic development (grammaticalisation) in order to explore questions of the origin, development, and usage of lqr't. The combined approaches help to situate and construct an archaeology of linguistic knowledge and a genealogy of philological change of language and text.
圣经希伯来语lqr't作为内容项和功能词位于语法类别的交汇处。任何给定符号的分析都被这种多样性及其各种编码的外延所混淆:不定式结构“满足”和多义介词,方向朝向和对抗性。出埃及记14:27 (wmsrym nsym lqr' w)中的用法引发了许多不同的分析。解释包括:hoi de egyptioi phygon hypo to hydor (LXX);对不起' -'rqyn lqwblh (Peshitta);埃及逃蝇;“埃及人一接近就逃跑了”(NJPS);“埃及人在它面前逃跑了”(NRSV);“埃及人向那地逃跑”(和合本)。这项研究通过比较一系列语法方法来检验lqr't。这些方法集中在进化增长(文字学),组合和范式特征(结构主义),功能使用(折衷语言学)和跨语言发展(语法化),以探索lqr't的起源,发展和使用问题。这两种方法的结合有助于定位和构建语言学知识的考古学以及语言和文本的语言学变化的谱系。
{"title":"The Table of Grammar: Lqr't as Test Case","authors":"H. H. Hardy","doi":"10.25159/2663-6573/8515","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6573/8515","url":null,"abstract":"Biblical Hebrew lqr't is situated at the intersection of grammatical categories as a content item and a function word. The analysis of any given token is confounded by this diversity and its variously encoded denotations: the infinitive construct “to meet” and the polysemous prepositions, the directional TOWARD and the adversative AGAINST. The usage in Exodus 14:27 (wmsrym nsym lqr'tw) prompts a number of different analyses. Interpretations include: hoi de aigyptioi ephygon hypo to hydor (LXX); wmsry' -'rqyn lqwblh (Peshitta); fugientibusque AEgyptiis occurrerunt aquae (Vulgate); “the Egyptians fled at its approach” (NJPS); “the Egyptians fled before it” (NRSV); and “the Egyptians were fleeing toward it” (NIV). This study examines lqr't by comparing a range of grammatical methods. These approaches centre evolutionary growth (philology), syntagmatic and paradigmatic features (structuralism), functional usage (eclectic linguistics), and cross-linguistic development (grammaticalisation) in order to explore questions of the origin, development, and usage of lqr't. The combined approaches help to situate and construct an archaeology of linguistic knowledge and a genealogy of philological change of language and text.","PeriodicalId":42047,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Semitics","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69124963","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Linguistic inclusions are natural forms of communicative competence, usually used for illocutionary or confirmative purposes. This paper focuses on disjunctions and their semantic and syntactic features. The usage of disjunctions cannot be treated as a coincidental issue, therefore much detailed study could bring more information. This study is based on a collected set of utterances and conversational analysis, including the most common Arabic disjunctions. Results are presented in tables with relevant comments. Cultural conditions must be considered since many of the Arabic inclusions are ritualistic phrases. In addition, dialectal divergences constitute semantic incoherence. In Arabic as spoken language, many grammatical restrictions depend on disjunction and its role in a phrase.
{"title":"Disjunctive Inclusions in Arabic as Spoken Language: Grammatical Constraints","authors":"Magdalena AL-SAYADI","doi":"10.25159/2663-6573/7326","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6573/7326","url":null,"abstract":"Linguistic inclusions are natural forms of communicative competence, usually used for illocutionary or confirmative purposes. This paper focuses on disjunctions and their semantic and syntactic features. The usage of disjunctions cannot be treated as a coincidental issue, therefore much detailed study could bring more information. This study is based on a collected set of utterances and conversational analysis, including the most common Arabic disjunctions. Results are presented in tables with relevant comments. Cultural conditions must be considered since many of the Arabic inclusions are ritualistic phrases. In addition, dialectal divergences constitute semantic incoherence. In Arabic as spoken language, many grammatical restrictions depend on disjunction and its role in a phrase.","PeriodicalId":42047,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Semitics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48670764","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A Sumerian Hypothesis is developed to explain the origin of the large amount of Mesopotamian material appearing in the primeval history of Genesis 1–11 (found throughout all parts of the primeval history). Various features of the primeval history are considered and compared with Sumerian/Akkadian features, including worldview, motifs, and stories as well as the literary style and historiography of the genealogies. The author argues that this Mesopotamian material can be traced back to pre-Old Babylonian sources and shows no influence from developments in Babylon thereafter. The Mesopotamian source material used in the primeval history may thus have been written down as early as in Abrahamic times.
{"title":"The Sumerian Hypothesis","authors":"W. McLoud","doi":"10.25159/2663-6573/8435","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6573/8435","url":null,"abstract":"A Sumerian Hypothesis is developed to explain the origin of the large amount of Mesopotamian material appearing in the primeval history of Genesis 1–11 (found throughout all parts of the primeval history). Various features of the primeval history are considered and compared with Sumerian/Akkadian features, including worldview, motifs, and stories as well as the literary style and historiography of the genealogies. The author argues that this Mesopotamian material can be traced back to pre-Old Babylonian sources and shows no influence from developments in Babylon thereafter. The Mesopotamian source material used in the primeval history may thus have been written down as early as in Abrahamic times.","PeriodicalId":42047,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Semitics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47365593","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Memra concept is notable in Aramaic Bible translation or Targum. In Targum Amos, the term is employed seven times in the Aramaic rendering of the Hebrew text of the prophet Amos. This study investigates how scholars interpreted the Memra concept in the context of earlier studies that focussed on the Pentateuchal Targums and the Former Prophets. It then ventures to establish how the notion of Memra is used in TJ Amos and how this compares with previous scholarly findings.
{"title":"The Concept of Memra in Targum Amos","authors":"G. Lier, Anna Fransina Van Zyl","doi":"10.25159/2663-6573/8341","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6573/8341","url":null,"abstract":"The Memra concept is notable in Aramaic Bible translation or Targum. In Targum Amos, the term is employed seven times in the Aramaic rendering of the Hebrew text of the prophet Amos. This study investigates how scholars interpreted the Memra concept in the context of earlier studies that focussed on the Pentateuchal Targums and the Former Prophets. It then ventures to establish how the notion of Memra is used in TJ Amos and how this compares with previous scholarly findings.","PeriodicalId":42047,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Semitics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47007888","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}