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| Author |
Message |
mythago
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The Ancient Semitic Languages Item
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Sep 4 09:50 UTC 1991 |
Just for you, jennie.
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| 27 responses total. |
fes
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response 1 of 27:
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Sep 4 13:44 UTC 1991 |
So where's the item?
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ty
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response 2 of 27:
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Sep 5 06:26 UTC 1991 |
There will never be an item where semitic languages are spoken 'cuz you
can't type the characters and I for one, *hate* transliterating.
;)
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mythago
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response 3 of 27:
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Sep 5 11:06 UTC 1991 |
If anyone has a keyboard that will put cuneiform up on the screen, I
will be awestruck and impressed.
Half the fun in Semitic languages is in the alphabet/syllabic characters,
anyway.
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ty
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response 4 of 27:
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Sep 5 13:45 UTC 1991 |
************** * ************** *
* * * *
* * * * * *
* * * * * *
* * * * * *
* * * * *
* * * * *
* * * * *
***** *
* *
*
There is my attempt at Hebrew characters in ascii. Can you say Yahweh?
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mythago
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response 5 of 27:
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Sep 6 12:11 UTC 1991 |
"Adonai"?
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ty
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response 6 of 27:
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Sep 6 20:48 UTC 1991 |
Depends if you're Jewish or not. ;)
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mythago
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response 7 of 27:
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Sep 6 21:22 UTC 1991 |
Well, I'm not circumcised.
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robh
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response 8 of 27:
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Jul 13 14:45 UTC 1992 |
Boqer tov! Mah shlomcha?
Oops, wait, it has to be right to left...
?ahcomlhs haM !vot reqoB
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davel
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response 9 of 27:
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Nov 9 01:56 UTC 1992 |
A long time ago (around 15 years, now) I was studying beginning Hebrew, &
never got farther BTW, when I encountered a Tshirt in Ann Arbor. It was
in Hebrew (need I say), & said (pardon my attempt at transliteration):
Tov shalom mearetz Yisrael hashlemah.
The person wearing it had to explain "shlemah", and then explain the
Israeli political slogan it was responding to. Makes an interesting
pun as well, doesn't it?
(Now that I've exposed my almost-total ignorance of Hebrew and of Israeli
politics in the bargain, someone else please say something.)
BTW: I'm not sure why mythago limited this to *ancient* semitic languages.
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griz
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response 10 of 27:
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Nov 11 18:12 UTC 1992 |
Re #9:
It was originally a joke, probably a response to the joke I put in the
login message to the conference.
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redwood
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response 11 of 27:
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Nov 20 00:49 UTC 1992 |
If you're a good Jew, you know you're not supposed to say the Lord's name!
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other
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response 12 of 27:
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Mar 11 08:16 UTC 1994 |
If you are aware of such things, then you'd know that the hebrew word we
pronounce as yahweh is actually an acronym for the words which translate
loosely as "He whose name cannot be spoken."
It is kind of amusing to give one's god a name, and deny it one, all
at the same time...
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davel
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response 13 of 27:
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Mar 11 11:27 UTC 1994 |
Eric, it's much more likely that the acronym was adopted later as a
replacement for the name.
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other
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response 14 of 27:
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Mar 11 18:28 UTC 1994 |
Oh, I didn't mean to imply that the name Yahweh was the *original* name, just
that it was a name given which also took away any name.
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kami
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response 15 of 27:
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Mar 11 20:23 UTC 1994 |
all 44 (or whatever- I forget the number) "names" in the listing are more
like epithets or descriptions than "names". Come to think of it, the same is
true of many of the Celtic "gods"- we have iscriptions with names which are
general and descriptive, and some stories with names that seem to be unique-
cases within a general class. I wonder if the familiar Classical names origin
ated with descriptions of function?
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davel
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response 16 of 27:
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Mar 11 22:45 UTC 1994 |
Re 14: you miss my point. The name existed, and an acronym was invented
to fit.
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kami
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response 17 of 27:
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Mar 12 06:15 UTC 1994 |
you sure? whence this datum?
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other
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response 18 of 27:
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Mar 12 08:21 UTC 1994 |
I also think you have it backward. I believe that the acronym is the
origination of the name Yahweh. (Yud Hay Vav Hay)
This is supported by the basic unpronouncability of the word formed
by the letters, and the fact that there is no established root form contained
within it.
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davel
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response 19 of 27:
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Mar 12 16:50 UTC 1994 |
What do you mean "unpronounceable"?
And there's certainly a case for its relationship to the verb to be.
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other
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response 20 of 27:
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Mar 12 18:02 UTC 1994 |
What are the three letters composing the root verb "to be"? I guess I missed
it.
As far as the pronouncability of the word is concerned, I was
thinking of something else, specifically the double yud used in print instead
of the spelling out of adonai. Oops. I goofed. Sorry.
The connection is weak, but in *my* training, the word yahweh was
almost never used, while adonai was predominant, but was never spelled out.
I just had a chip fried in my cpu or something. (Oh what an ugly metaphor!)
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srw
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response 21 of 27:
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Mar 12 18:07 UTC 1994 |
I am fairly confident that the name is nat an acronym at all, having been
derived from one of the many conjugations of the verb "to be". (Hebrew has
a lot of conjugations.) I believe it was introduced at the burning bush
when Moses insisted on knowing what the name was.
Well, he didn't have a name, so he just said "I am that I am", and this
sort of became his name. This is now an extremely sacred name to Jews, so
its usage has been limited. The name is still written in certain holy
books, such as the Torah, but is not pronounced as written when these are
read.
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srw
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response 22 of 27:
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Mar 12 18:27 UTC 1994 |
#20 slipped in.
The three letters of the verb "to be" are hay-vov-hay.
The present tense is pronounced "hoveh".
For example, "I am" is "Ani hoveh".
"Adonai" means "My Lord" and is used as a substitute both in speaking and
writing the name. Due to this close relationship to the name, in modern
usage even "Adonai" is not written out in Hebrew, but rather an
abbreviation (yod-yod) is used to indicate it's place in prayer books.
Some of these restrictions are relaxed for holiest of writings, such as a
Torah Scroll.
Many references in the Hebrew Torah use the word "elohim" which is
the generic word for "god", but curiously in the plural. This word may
be freely spoken and written in Hebrew by observant Jews.
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davel
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response 23 of 27:
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Mar 12 21:47 UTC 1994 |
("Adonai" is also plural in form - "my Lords" - the singular being "adoni".
Just BTW.)
I'm not Jewish, and my experience in those circles is kind of limited, but
certainly some observant Jews also seem to avoid "Elohim" in favor of such
things as Hashem ("the Name"). And I've seen "G-d" written in English
for similar reasons. (And was once told that a flyer I'd been handed with
*that* on it should be reverently burned instead of being thrown away.)
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other
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response 24 of 27:
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Mar 13 04:42 UTC 1994 |
Another example of human stupidity! That paper should have been reverently
*recycled* rather than burnt!!! (:
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