AS^-^ '^taiiiiiiiiliiyitH u 5 (^ ^ Date Due JESan*! Imj-^ "ItfMUB ''TtTQ^^ -■ f OiCl /%^1^'g PRINTED IN U. 5. A, (t*r NO. 23233 Cornell University Library PJ 4564.D35 Hebrew language viewed in tlie light of A 3 1924 026 834 204 THE HEBREW LANGUAGE. The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924026834204 THE HEBREW LANGUAGE VIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF ASSYRIAN RESEARCH. BY m FREDERIC DELITZSOH, PROFESSOR OP ASSYKIOLOQY IN THE UNIVEBSITY OF LEIPZIG. WILLIAMS AND NORGATE, 14, HENRIETTA STREET, CO VENT GARDEN, LONDON; AND 20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH. 1883. /^■SVb'f All rights reserved. Printed by Metzgee and Wittiq- at Leipzig. PREFACE. The substance of the present treatise is a reprint, in a revised and augmented form, of a series of articles which appeared in Nos. 2897, 2898, 2900, 2902, 2908, 29u9, 2913 of the Athenaeum. ^ In reissuing these articles in the shape of a separate publication I have in view the double object of making them accessible to a larger circle of readers and of eliciting the opinions of scholars competent to judge of the soundness or otherwise of the principles here advocated. My esteemed teacher. Professor Dillmann, in his discussion on the site of Paradise, ironicallj^ refers to my own solution of that difficult question as having been effected by "the well known wand of cuneiform research."^ I am prepared to hear the same remark applied to the present work, which endeavours to apply the results of Assyriology to the lexico- graphical treatment of the Hebrew language. I reject from the very outset tlie reproach that I am trying to explain "everything" by Assyrian. It is true I have explained Assyrian itself by its own help and it is no small satis- ' The importance of Assyriology to Hebrew lexicography; see Athenaeum, May 5. 12. 26; June 9; July 21. 28; August 25. 1883. " Genesis, 4*'' edition, p. 61. VI — faction to me that I have arrived at results which have already met with the approval of scholars not biased in favour of Assyriology. When I commenced the study of Assyrian, Assyriology was in a state of slavish dependency on Arabic lexico- graphy. People were happy to compare the Assyrian tahdlu, "to trust," now recognised to mean originally "to be strong," with the eighth form of the Arabic Jil (JJol), and felt only secure under the sheltering roof of Arabic lexicography. I soon became convinced that Arabic was less important to the study of Assyrian than the North Semitic languages, the Hebrew and the Aramaic dialects, a conviction which" I regard as the fundamental principle of Assyrian research. When I undertook the compilation of my Assyrian dictio- nary and, in obedience to the first principle of lexicography, began to explain Assyrian by the rich and various stores of its own literature, I was first taught by the instructive iiistances of the verbs bjl and bn3 that Assyrian assigns to. these and other stems a meaning far different from that based on the comparison of Arabic, a meaning which not only admirably suits the context, but is also directly con- firmed by the parallelisnms membrorum. Thus the Assj'rian dictionary, which embodies a world of ancient Semitic thought and speech, disclosed an entirely new foundation for the understanding of the sacred language of the Old Testament and created a new line of interpretation directly opposed to the old system of Assyrian as well as of Hebrew lexicography. Lest it should be supposed that I am guided in this little wort by a principle of unjust warfare against the ninth edition of Gesenius's dictionary, I would remark that vn my censure is limited to those cases where the editors have erroneously deviated from the coiTect views of Gese- nius himself, or have failed to recognise what Fiirst and Levy had already anticipated. It is also to be deplored that in a hook intended to introduce young beginners to the study of the Semitic languages the boundary of hypothesis and certainty is not marked with sufficient clearness. On the other hand, I cheerfully acknowledge that the ninth edition contains a good many improvements in matters of detail. In opposing my own views to those ex- pressed in the ninth edition nothing is more remote from my intention than personal controversy. The warm interest which my revered teacher, Professor Fleischer, has taken in the preparation of the two last editions of the dictionary excludes controversy, in the common sense of the word, on the part of an attached pupil. Nor am I so unreasonable as to charge the editors with having taken no notice of results which they could not have known. I oppose my own view to that of the ninth edition, because Gesenius's dictionary occupies the first and foremost place in Hebrew lexicogi-aphy, and claims to represent the mental labour which men of different shades of theological opinion have devoted to the exegesis of the Old Testament. I have myself experienced the greatest difficulty in breaking through the spell of ideas imbibed at an early age. The disputes here raised are only concerned ^nth. facts, and for them I am not responsible, unless I be reproached for having recognised and proclaimed them before the world. If, in spite of these assertions to the contrary, this treatise should still be considered too controversial, I shall derive comfort from the thought, that this very character may induce the advocates of the old system to oppose their own views to my statements, and VIII — thus to bring about the establishment of truth which is the desired end of all our efforts. ■ The facts here brought forward are of such fundamental importance, that I shall be grateful for any well-founded objections which may be urged against them. They mate- rially change our views of the different degrees of affinity between the Semitic languages, and assign chiefly to Ara- bic a position quite different from that which it has hitherto occupied. If we take a single Arabic verb like ^iJULsc as compared with the North Semitic l^n, and consider the loss sustained by Arabic of so many ancient Semitic words (see Dillmann, Ethiopic Grammar, p. 5, note), and the nu- merous inflections of late origin, we are compelled to ad- mit that Arabic cannot be the prototype of the other Se- mitic languages, least of all of Hebrew. This opinion receives the fullest confirmation from Assyrian research. It is, therefore, time to abandon the ordinary practice of forcing the peculiar, often late, meanings of the Arabic words upon the much older Hebrew sister. The editors of the last editions of Gesenius's dictionary will perhaps now agree with me that in future it will no longer be sufficient to patch some new Assyrian pieces upon an old cloth, but that a thorough revision of every Hebrew stem and of every Hebrew word must be effected. This salutary refor- mation of the Hebrew dictionary by means of Assyrian, so far from increasing the bulk of the lexicon^, will save much usefiil space by the removal of a mass of erroneous statements and worthless speculations. The transfer of the leading part in Hebrew lexico- graphy from Arabic to Assyrian is, however, only one point ' See Preface of the ninth edition of Gesenius's dictionary, p. I. of five, which justify, in my opinion, the compilation of a new Hebrew dictionary. The Hebrew proper names occurring in the Old Testament require a thorough and extensive revision scarcely imagined hy the continuators of Gesenius's work. I forhear mentioning here a consider- able number of Hebrew post-exilic names receiving the most satisfactory explanation by the corresponding Babylo- nian names; a number of Hebrew stems and words preserved o^ly in proper names like Q^"!?., "^bti?, Tfiab, iljip, nin, nsir, which obtain the most surprising light by the Assy- rian language; and the illustration of many proper name,-; like I")";, nia^S") by parallel names in Assyrian. But I wish to draw particular attention to the mode of naming the children which is again a point of essential agreement bet- ween Babylonian and Hebrew. An attentive study of the several thousand Babylonian and Assyrian proper names cannot fail to sharpen our eye for a better understanding of the Hebrew names of persons. I do not mean here ex- planations like bs^BH, "heat of god," W-^sVo, "killer of moths," I'l'sa"'!?, "perhaps like 'ii'QitJ'i desert," i^ins, "brother of the water, i. e., dwelling near the water, or, perhaps, man of a watery heart, i. e., a coward," or bs^ns, "divine simplicity, if not for 'S'intt" — though it seems to me im- possible that a child ever and anywhere could have been called "desert" or "divine simplicity," or that the hereditary prince of the Hamathites was named 'y'n (1 Chron. xviii. 9), meaning "madness." Nor have I in view the names of prophetic import, which predict the future station and avo- cation of a man, as xno^p, which, according to Dietrich, means "line of battle or general," an explanation by which that Canaanitic commander is invested as a helpless infant with the staff of mihtary command. I rather refer to the explanations of the purest and most easj' Hebrew proper names given in Gesenius's dictionary, names like n^Mn, rriyttlB, tisicibs. It is no small difference whether these names are interpreted with Gesenius's dictionary "Jahve is merciful," "Jahve hears," "my God judges," or, in ac- cordance with grammar and true Semitic thought, "Jahve has been gracious," "Jahve has heard," "my God has judged." The interpretations of Gesenius's dictionary express divine qualities in general, but the names simply relate to, and commemorate, facts connected with the birth of the child. It is difficult to understand, how that beautiful and easy department of Hebrew nomenclature could have been so carelessly treated. Thus, n"ii3btt is rightly translated by "my king is sublime," while DTJhs is wrongly rendered "lord of the height." The name niini, evidently a name like n'j'ai, bsi-i"! and others, could never have meant "praising Jahve." How can the Qal fni mean "to praise"? Nor does liTS mean "ear of Jahve." It has the same meaning as "'Sati, "the hearing of my prayer," — the birth of the child is the divine fulfilment of the father's prayers. I assert with the fullest confidence that there are scarcely a hundred Hebrew proper names the explanation of which in Gesenius's dictionary does not challenge criticism. It is here out of place to seek an excuse by the convenient saying Dies diem docet, the truth could here have been seen many years ago. A second and still more serious point of disagreement with Gesenius's dictionary is the treatment of the roots. The exasperating consistency with which all Hebrew stems are derived from a root of two consonants and the most various meanings deduced from one common primary mean- ing, is open to many serious objections. Even granted XI that some of these curious speculations on the mean- ings attached to the Semitic sounds are right, they do not deserve a place in the Hehrew dictionary itself, but ought to be separately dealt with in an appendix. Hebrew- lexicography in its present state has to supply desiderata of a far more solid and important character. A sharper understanding of the Hebrew stems themselves as to their sounds and accurate meaning or shades of meaning is espe- cially required. I cannot see any real profit resulting from such a vague theory as that of the supposed roots. The eighth edition of Gesenius's dictionary derived the word DD'a, "tribute", from DD3, "to number," the root of which we are taught is 03, "to cut, to separate"; counting is said to be separating, dividing. The ninth edition has given up this explanation; following Fleischer, it rightly states that DD'a is the stem. But Arabic (j*jCo means "to oppress, to harm some one" ; how, then, could DSa mean tribute? The editors of the ninth edition enlighten us on the subject. Going back to the root of the stem, ^a, which is said to mean "to press, comprimere" they state that "to count" is "to compress, numero comprehendere" . ODM is, therefore, "tribute" as that which is comprised in a certain number. I am at a loss to see the force of this mode of etymological reasoning. Is there any scientific value in the conjecture that nS";, "to kindle fire", may go back to the root n3J, allied with niB, and mean originally "to lay the fire" ? Ac- cording to the preface of the ninth edition, the etymologies have been carefully revised and, that which is certain has been separated, as far as possible, from that which is only probable. Nevertheless, njpttj is still identified with nnic (for the interchange of p and n nps, "thou", and the suffix T are compared!), which itself is derived from the root niB, XII — "to sit down," and nliiB, "to drink," is stated to mean originally "to make the thirst sit down, sedare sitim." Yet, in another place, n|5TB is again derived from the root plB and is said to be akin to the other verbs 1D3, ppT, pT>\ I could give many more instances of this kind. I think, all these speculations upon the roots and their vague mean- ings could be omitted without any harm to the Hebrew dictionary and the enormous space saved by this omission could be turned to a better and more useful account. I have not yet decided whether I shall discuss these and other points in a special introduction or Prolegomena to a new Hebrew dictionary or publish at once my own Hebrew dictionary which I have compiled along with my Assyrian dictionary. In the meantime I submit this treatise to the judgment of Semitic scholars. Its publication was necessary, because the philological notes added in my As- syrian dictionary to every stem or word will be only under- stood in connexion with the principles expounded in this treatise. I am not bold enough to believe that, in this first attempt, I have shed light everywhere by the "wand" of Assyriology. I shall be satisfied if I have succeeded in unearthing from the mines of Babylonian and Assyrian anti- quity some material useful for a better understanding and appreciation of the sacred records of the Old Testament. London, October 1883. Frederic Delitzsch. THE HEBREW LANGUAGE viewed in the light of Assyrian Eeseareh. Pew departments of linguistic research have been so thoroughly investigated as that of the language of the Old Testament. As a natural consequence of such unremitting labour, the Biblical books written in that tongue are now better understood than perhaps any other sacred record handed down to posterity. Yet it is a fact well known to every serious student of the Old Testament that there still remains a large number of passages, some of them of the highest importance, which have received very divergent and far from satisfactory explanations at the hands of commen- tators. There is likewise a long list of single words of which the true sense is quite uncertain. We have here in view not only the names of some of the animals specified by the Levitical law^; the names of plants^ and precious stones*; the nouns and verbs of rare occurrence and the ^ For instance flBJ!*. » E. g. n^snn.. ^ E. g. iaa?', n-irib. Delitzsch, Hebrew and Assyriaa. so-called Sita^ Xeydjisva^, but also verbs of frequent use, including such as bave a number of derivatives.^ There are, besides, certain grammatical problems, whose true solution has not yet been found. These difficulties of iaterpretation are mainly due to the want of a tradition based on a minute and exact knowledge of Old Testament language and literature. Nor is it difficult to see why such a tradition is wanting. The transportation of the ten tribes from Palestine to Mesopotamia and Media, and the close intercourse of those left behind with people of different nations, as the Elamites, Babylonians, and Arabs, who supplied the places of the exUed Israelites, struck a deadly blow at the ancient lan- guage of the kingdom of Israel. Nor was it destined to flourish much longer in the kingdom of Judah. In the year 701 B. c. Sennacherib carried away captive from the moun- tain districts of Judah no less than 200,150 inhabitants^, and Nebuchadnezzar afterwards completed the work com- menced by his Assyrian predecessor. Still, the language continued to live for a time in Babylonia, as is amply shown by the pure, classical Hebrew of that great national prophet whom modern criticism has styled the "Deutero- Isaiah." The termination, however, of the Babylonian exile marks the beginning of that process by which Hebrew gra- ' :e. g. nbs; niia^n, izis; ait, nsn. ^ For instance "laa, from which 1533, „heathen priest", and niaSM, „net" are derived. ^ See Sennacher. iii. 11 ff. It is difficult to imderstand, how Sennacherib was capable of transporting such a multitude after the destruction, which his army is reported to have suflfered at the hand of the angel of the Lord. — 8 — dually disappeared from among living languages. It is true that that small portion of the nation who availed themselves of the permission to return to the Holy Land still wrote and spoke Hebrew, but the Aramaic dialect, which had been favoured by the Persian kings and was almost regarded as the official language of the Western portion of the Persian empire, had already begun to bring its deteriorating influence to bear upon it, and, rapidly advancing, was conquering one portion of Palestine after the other. This process con- tinued under the dominion of the Greeks and was greatly hastened by the various wars and revolutions which the Jewish nation experienced during that period. Hebrew be- came more and more confined to the narrow circle of the learned, in whose hands it gradually assumed the character of an artificial language and was corrupted by an inter- mixture of Aramaic elements.^ It was still used for literary purposes at the time of Antiochus Epiphanes and the Macca- bees, but it had already ceased to be a spoken language. This is strikingly illustrated by the book of Daniel (com- posed about 167 B. c.) and the book of Chronicles (about 200 B. c). Even so erudite a Jew as the compiler of the last-named work fails to grasp the import of the more diffi- cult passages and expressions in the older portions of the sacred code on which his own work is based. The learned among the Jews, during the last two centuries before Christ, even preferred to write in Aramaic, and at the time of Christ that dialect reigned supreme as the adopted language of the country. It is true that the study of their sacred language re- mained a favourite occupation among the Jews, who trans- ' See NSldeke, Art. Aram, in Sohenkel's Sibel-Lexicoa. 1* mitted their knowledge to succeeding generations, but a deeper understanding of the sacred text was lost. The Greek translation of the Septuagint, some portions of which date as far back as the third century b. c, and the sot called Targumim, or Aramaic interpretations, though in some respects valuable for the understanding of the text, show unmistakable signs of an imperfect knowledge of the old Hebrew language. As Noeldeke justly remarks, "Those old translations are, at the present state of Biblical philo- logy, not very important for the recognition of the true sense. They rarely assist, where the usual philological resources fail, in the explanation of difficult words and passages, their translation being usually due to a, mere guess." ' Fortunately another resource is available which supplies in some measure the want of a trustworthy tradition. "We refer to the wonderful aid afforded by the language of the Old Testament itself by means of the context, parallel passages, and the so-called paralMismus membrorum. The comparison ■ „Fur den jetzigen Standpunkt der biblischen Philologie sind jene Uebersetzungen zur Brkenntniss des wahren Sinnes nicht beson- ders wichtig. Man ist zu der Einsicht gekommen, dass in den Fallen, wo uns die sonstigen philologischen Hillfsmittel zur Erklarung schwie- riger Worte und Stellen im Stich lassen, die alten Uebersetzungen selten fordem, denn gewohnlich haben auch sie dann den Sinn nur errathen." See Noldeke, Alftestamentliche Literatur, p. 246. Even among the Jews themselves the necessity was sometimes felt of going beyond the traditional interpretation. The illustrious Abu'l-Walid often applies the Arabic language to the elucidation of Hebrew. The Karaite Jews, who naturally opposed the traditional mode of interpretation, wrote chietly in Arabic and had frequently recourse to "that language in explaining the sacred text. — 5 — of the kindred Semitic tongues is in this respect only of a secondary value and often misleading. And here it must be stated that the indiscreet use made of the cognate dialects, and more particularly of Arabic, has blinded the eyes of many distinguished labourers in this field against the native power of the Hebrew language. The value of Arabic for Hebrew lexicography has been greatly exaggerated. It seems to me that the continua- tors of Gesenius's great and admirable work have fallen in this respect into errors , against which the original • compiler had wisely guarded himself. The well-known fact that the Arabic language has preserved in numerous instances original forms of the Semitic idiom which are lost in the kindred dialects, combined with the enormous copiousness of its vocabulary, has led to the erroneous supposition that the same degree of unchanged originality is to be assumed for the meanings of the Arabic words. The common practice of arbitrarily forcing Arabic meanings upon Hebrew words constitutes a fundamental error of mo- dern Hebrew lexicography. A few instances will suffice to show the fatal consequences of this practice. Because Arabic Jg; means "to drink" ("primo haustu bibit camelus"), the same meaning is ascribed to Heb. bTO, and the Piel bri3 is explained to mean "to give to drink, to lead to water" — in general, "to lead, guide, protect" ! We question whether this generally accepted sense of bn? can be entertained any longer. It is plainly indicated by the parallelismus mem- brorum in Ps. xxiii. 2, and by the parallel passages 2 Chron. xxxii. 22 and 1 Chron. xxii. 18, that bn: is a synonym of yan, "to lie down," and niD, "to rest," which is further confirmed by the fact that nadlu, ndhu, and rabdsu are the equivalents of the same ideogram in the old Babylonian bilingual texts.' We therefore translate the passages Ps. xxiji. 2, "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he causes me to rest beside the still waters"; 2 Chron. xxxii. 22, "And the Lord gave them rest on every side" (as in 1 Chron. xxii. 18, not "And guided them on every side"); Ex. xv. 13, "Thou in thy strength hast placed them in safety in thy holy habitation"; 2 Chron. xxviii. 15, "And put all the feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho"; finally. Gen. xlvii. 17, "And he (Joseph) satisfied them with bread," not "And he fed them with bread" &c. Another striking instance is afforded by the zoological name CS."i or D"'';;. We read in Job xxxix. 9 — 10: "Will the rem be willing to serve thee or abide by thy crib? Canst thou bind the rem with his band in the furrow, or will he harrow the valleys after thee?" What animal is the DSI? It is evident from the poet's words that it must be a wild animal, certainly one quite unfitted for the peace- ful labour of jjloughing the field. The Authorized Version translates DST by "unicorn." But even granting the existence of such an animal, it was surely never at home in Palestine. Besides, who does not see the obvious contradiction involved in the translation of Ps. xxii. 21, "For thou hast heard me from the horns [dual in Hebrew] of the unicorns," where more than one horn is ascribed to the wmcorn? The last two editions of Gesenius's dictionary explain OS"l by the Arabic *jj, Antilope leueoryx, although that animal could never^ have lived in Palestine, since its home being in the sandy' wastes of Arabia and of the north-eastern regions of ' Compare for na'alu = rabafu, for instance, W. A. I. iv. 27, 19 and 20a with 17, 51 and 52a. 16 and 17b. Africa. Besides, in spite of its two spear-shaped horns, the Antilope leueoryx is known to be an animal of meek dis- position, directly opposed to the wild, hostile nature ascribed to the DS"i. Gesenius, guided by the parallelismus membroru/m in passages like Deut. xxjjiii. 17, translates buffalo; but the existence of the buffalo in further Asia is traceable only a short time before the Christian era. We know now, by the cuneiform inscriptions and the pictorial representations on the Assyrian sculptures, that the DS"l is the Assyrian rmm, that strong-homed, fierce-looking wild bull, skilled in climb- ing the mountains^, whose colossal and formidable likeness was placed by the Assyrian kings before the entrance of their palaces to ward off and terrify the approaching enemy.^ It may be expedient to mention here another deplorable error of modern Hebrew lexicography, which is centred in the common practice of representing the sense of Arabic words as the original meaning of their Hebrew equivalents, even in cases where each of the two languages exhibits a totally different usage of the word in question. Thus Hebrew S"!'^ is explained by the Arabic C4>«, "to deposit," i. e., to deposit in the mind, to know'; TTS, "to be fat," by \dki, ' This character of the animal seems to be alluded to in the above mentioned passage: "will he harrow the valleys after thee?" ^ It may be interesting to enumerate here the synonyms oirimu.- 1) orM, i. e. the quick one (PIIN "to be quick"). 2) pm-a, originally "strong" {piydr, a synonym of Jparradv, "strong", and probably ph-ii, the Assyrian name of the "elefant," are derived from the same root). 3) 14, with its feminine form Utu, from the stem nxb, which is a common Assyrian word for "to be strong." ^ Gesenius in Thescmras, second edition, rightly remarks s. ». ST^: "Noji audiendi sunt qui sciendi potestatem apud Hebraeos repetant a, reponendo sc. in animo hominis." "to break," i. e., to be broken, to be languid, soft, fat; TlbW, "to send," by ^J-*u, "to skin," i. e., to draw out, to extend, to stretch out, to send; "1)5©, "to lie," by liui, „to be red," i. e., to redden, to paint red, to varnish the truth, i. 6., to lie; yea, we are told that* "11B3 means "to join," and is to compared to the Arabic y^S, "to break," because joining as well as breaking may be effected by striking one object against the other. It must be owned that these combinations do credit to the ingenuity of their authors. Their plausibility becomes, however, seriously impaired when we consider the totally different history of the two languages. Hebrew became a literary language many centuries before the Christian era. Arabic was not used for literary purposes until the seventh century of our era. How, then, is it possible to make Arabic the prototype of a sister tongue so much older as Hebrew? Further, it must be taken into account, that the Aramaic dialect and, in some instances, even Ethiopic ex- hibit the same late meanings ascribed to Hebrew. If we admit that Arabic is the prototype of the other Semitic languages, we cannot but conclude, that they have passed side by side through the same phases of development to arrive at the same stage of decay as to the meanings of their words. How, then, can we account for the differences of sound by which one is separated from the other? These considerations alone suffice to shake our beUef in a system of etymological research so exclusively based on Arabic. The whole fabric is, however, finally overturned by the mo- numental literature of Babylonia and Assyria. On the other hand, the comparison of the kindred ton- gues is of inestimable value in the explanation of the He- — -9 — brew sounds. In this respect especially the Aramaic and Arabic dialects have done good service in advancing Hebrew lexicography. By their help a rigid philological method was for the first time applied to the treatment of the Hebrew roots. The comparison of the cognate dialects demonstrated clearly that certain roots — as 315 >— 'j^ "to mix," and y(f i-jji "to enter, to set" (of the sun) — which in spelling had come to be one in Hebrew, were originally distinct and of entirely different etymology. In this respect Arabic is very instructive for the roots containing one of the gutturals n (^' b=sr> «-) ^icl y (, g=&, c), and, combined with Syriac, for those containing one of the sibilants tC, T and 2. It is to be lamented that even in the latest editions of Gesenius's dictionary the necessity of consistently applying this fundamental law of Hebrew lexicography is not suffi- ciently recognized. To quote a few instances, nDTD, "year," is still explained as meaning the "repetition of the same natural phenomena" (the seasons), and is compared with the Semitic numeral for "two," though the latter has an original t, i£j. In like manner niBN, "woman," is represented, in accordance with the etymology set forth in Gen. ii. 23, as the feminine form of ttJiS, "man," though it is clearly de- rived from the root oo|, "to be feeble," denoting the woman as the feeble one, while TB"'X must be referred to a root VS, "to be strong," marking the man as the strong one.'^ ' Another derivative of the root ID'^K is ')iB''S, generally wrongly translated by ''apple of the eye," because occurring in passages like Deut. xxxii. 10 ("he kept him as the apple of his eye") in connexion with lis, "eye." That this translation is wrong is evident from the passage in Ps. xvii. 8, where we read "JiSTia TiffliKS ''?1».'2|, which would have to be translated "Keep me as the apple of the apple of — 10 — The Hebrew SasiS, "finger", is still combined with ix^ "to dye" or "to dip," though this combination is contradicted by the Arabic jy-ol, which has a c, not a c- If such plain etymologies fail to be recognised, what can be ex- pected in cases of a more intricate nature, such as the stems "112 or nas? The close relationship existing between the several Semitic languages naturally causes each of them to throw light upon the other. It was, therefore, clear from the very first that the Semitic idiom of the Assyrian and Babylonian literature, so recently brought to light by the exfcavations in Mesopotamia, would prove a valuable help towards a better understanding of the Hebrew language. It will now be our object to show that the language of the cuneiform inscriptions is a far greater aid to the advancement of Hebrew philology than the other cognate dialets. Indeed it will be seen that Assyriology is actually inaugurating a new era of Hebrew lexicography. the eye," for 'j'^STia certainly means the apple of the eye (see La- ment, ii. 18). And what sense does this translation of 'jillj'iit yield in passages like Prov. vii. 9, "In the apple of the eye of the black and dark night"? The authors of the Authorized Version, rightly feeling the difficulty, have omitted to render 'jittJ'iK in their translation of this passage and of Ps. xvii. 8. The true sense of "jSiaiN has already been recognized by Levy in his dictionary of the Targumim. It is a syno- nym of DXS, meaning "strength," used like OSS' in Ex. xxiv. 10, as is farther confirmed by the Assyrian iSdnu. The above-quoted pas- sages are therefore to be rendered: "He kept him as his own eye" (Deut. xxxii. 10); "Keep me ei>e» as t7ie apple of the eye" (Ps. xvii. 8) "Even in the black and dark night" (Prov. vii. 9). II. In one respect it was to be expected that a special advantage would accrue to Hebrew lexicography from Assy- rian research, inasmuch as the Babylonian and Assyrian proper names of persons and deities, and the geographical and official names, which are of such frequent occurrence in the Old Testament, could only receive a final and satis- factory explanation by the language of the cuneiform in- scriptions. It must be owned that Assyriology has fully realized these expectations.^ We know now the meaning of ' Of course, there are still some dark points requiring to be cleared up. Thus, the true meaning of the names of the god 'nisila or of the river bp.'nfl has not yet been settled with certainty. As to the name of the goddess Hi'FliaS, we must insist upon its non-Semitic origin (see the German edition of George Smith's Chaldean Genesis, p. 273. 276 f.). li-far is a compound like Nam-tar and as-tar; see W. A. I. v. 20, 17 a. h, where the sign lal is to be changed into ta/r. It is clearly a gloss showing that the Assyrian aitartum (the name of the fastening of a door) is borrowed from the non-Semitic as "power" or "strength" and tar "to fix". The only obscure point in the name of Istar is the first syllable. The meaning "light" C4mJ, which George Smith' assigned to it, rests on an erroneous reading. The word IHar had probably a rather general meaning such as "fate-deciding." This is, at least, suggested by the ideograms of two inferior deities, one ele- ment of which is U-tar (see Delitzsch, Assyrische LesestiicTce, 2''d edi- tion, p; 46, 1. 51; p. 47, 1. 53). The non-Semitic name IHar passed — la- the names of kings like Ti'^n-nos (Assp-. AMr-dh-iddin, "Asm- has given a brother") and -flhtt bilS (Babyl. Avel- Marduk, "Man or servant of Merodach"). We have learnt that the god Nergal (b5"l|!, Nergal), whom the men of Cuth made (see 2 Kings xvii. 30), is the deity represented by the colossal lions at the entrance of the royal palaces, and that his non-Semitic name, Ne-uru-gal, characterizes him as the governor of the "great city," or the empire of death. ^ We have further been taught that the true meaning of baa, BdMlu is not "confusion," as explained in Gen. xi. 9, but "gate of God"; and we can now prove that nbs (Gen. x. 11), the sister city of Nineveh and the Assyrian Kalhu, is "the strong, firm city," derived from the same root as Heb. nbs (see Job v. 26 and xxx. 2).^ Finally, the proper meaning of official names, as 'jri'ir), is now plainly seen. The com- mander-in-chief of the Assyrian army, whom the books of Kings Q.3X\. .tartan , is the Assyrian turidnu — a genuine Se- mitic word, derived from tHrtu, a by-form of tertu, which is the common Assyrian word for law or commandment (comp. Heb. mW?). Turtdnu thus answers exactly to the Hebrew term pJjH'D. Heb. nrjB, the official name of the Chaldean into the Assyrian language as IHdrtu, which, at the same time, became a general name of any female deity, and was finally applied to any female being, especially to the IcadiHu, ninp. The Hebrew n"iDlZ3S in ',6, and some other striking points of agreement in grammar as well as vocabulary* — a great family likeness to its Ethiopian sister, but these points of similarity are either remnants of that time when the great Semitic idiom had not yet split into dialects or linguistic phenomena due to similar causes. It would certainly be rash to build upon them the hypothesis of a closer affinity between the two languages, which is amply disproved by the want in Assy- rian of the inner plural formation and the peculiar vocabu- lary of Ethiopic. It is an undisputed fact, on the other hand, that the Assyrian language bears a strong resemblance to Hebrew. The sibilants are the same in both languages. • Gomp. for instance ^liUM, Assyr. Msddu, ''neck"; "JA-^I, Assyr. haldini, "to perish"; '^h'., Assyr. m&'ii, "praepollere." — 19 — Compare Assyrian ^uru, "ox," and sabit, "gazelle," -with Hebrew i8r and seMa, and contrast these words with. Arabic tcmr, isahi, and Aramaic taurd, tabya. Turning to grammar, we find in Assyrian, as in Hebrew, andhu, "I" ("'33^), the conjunctions DS and ''biS, and the adverbial formations in Q, as annama, "in vain," Heb. DSH; pitima, "suddenly," Heb. DStIB; muMma, "by night," compare Heb. Dtt'l"', "by day."-'^ The use of the tenses is likewise analogous. Heb. bbp'^, with preceding O, TS, and D")!;), is used in the same aoristic sense as in Assyrian, and the Nifal is the passive voice in Hebrew as its corresponding form is in Assyrian. The resemblance is, however, actually overwhelming when we come to compare the vocabulary of the two languages. Leaving aside such words as "'PllB?, "one," Assyrian iUen, in the known numeral for "eleven," ^ which were partly borrowed by the Jews during the Babylonian exile, I pro- pose to include in the following list only words which form part, as it were, of the original stock-in-trade of the lan- guage: such are ilu, "God"; dihu or dhu, "enemy"; alpu, "ox"; am^atu, "eve, yesterday"; asdpu, "to gather"; erihu, "locust"; ardru, "to curse"; ereiu,' "to betroth" {ereiu, "bridegroom"; ereHu, "bride"); iipatu, "quiver"; uHuru, "to cause to prosper"; itimdU, timdU, "yesterday"; bdmdts, "high places"; dddu, "the beloved"; dudu, "basket"; daltu^ ' These Ass3Tian adverbs ending in ma decide for ever the question as to the origin of the Heb. Dt" in d'21'i, Dpi'l, &c. For the former explanations comp. Stade, Lehrhnch der hebrdischen O-ratmnatik, p. 175. " "iiUS"'in'lJS occurs eighteen times in the Old Testament, viz., eleven times in the exilic or post-exiUc books, and six times in Exodus and Numbers in passages forming part of the so-called "Codex of the Priests"; the sole remaining instance being in Deut. i. 3. 2* -- 20 — "door"; eril, "to be pregnant"; harddu, "to tremble"; hu- rdsu, "gold"; tatdpu, "to encircle" (comp. niBUii:); yduru, yarn, "river"; yasdru, "to form"; kalutu, syn. unutu, "ves- sel"; Mt M-li,^ "prison" (Heb. xbs nia); kiru, "cistern"; hiretu, "banquet" ; haidpu, Piel, "to bewitch" ; litu {i. e. npib), "to keep", e. ff. clothes (comp. Heb. nnpbtt, "wardrobe"); mekaltu {W. A. I. ii. 38, 19), "brook" (comp. iyi'a, 2 Sam. xvii. 20); maru, "to be fat"; nidbu, nindabu, "freewill offering"; ninu, "progeny"; nasiku, "prince"; ndi.idu, "shepherd"; sugulatu, "property"; sapddu, "to mourn"; sardru, "to be refractory"; ddu, "time" (Heb. liy); eru, "city"; erpitu, "cloud" (comp. n"'B"''lS); pdnu, "face"; subbu, "waggon"; hahkadu, "crown of the head"; hirhu, "middle"; rapu, "to heal"; hiJdlu, "Hades" (Heb. b'lSlB); iarru, "prince"; lardpu, "to burn"; ialidlu, "to roar"; Mru, "flesh"; saldlu, "to lead captive"; ialapu, "to draw," e.g., the sword; Mpdtu, "to judge"; htriu, "root, offshoot"; tdru, "to turn." Were I to aim at anything like completeness, this list would be found to comprise almost every single root in Hebrew, and to in- clude even peculiar Hebrew phrases, such as "ipiC iiSIS, in Assyrian tapdlu iashirti, "to invent a lie"; "V tS^P, in Assy- rian mullu kdtd, "to fill the hand of one," i. e., to invest one with an office. As has been recently shown by Franz De- litzsch, the words of the sacerdotal benediction (Num. vi. 26) "The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace," receive a new significance from the common Assyrian phrase "to lift up one's face, one's eyes to any one," i. e., to bestow one's love upon any one.^ Of course, though intimately connected, Assyrian and W. A. I. i. 27 No. 2, 36. See Zeitschrift fiir hirohl. Wiss. u. Lelen, Leipzig 1882, p. 125. — 21 — Hebrew are by no means identical. Assyrian has, like Hebrew, peculiarities of its own, due chiefly to the fact that it became a literary language at an earlier period than any of its Semitic sister tongues (about 3000 b. c). We refer here especially to the want of the article and to the rare use of the prepositions 3 and b, ba and la, which in Assyrian is restricted to the combinations baiu and lapdni. On the other hand, Hebrew must have undergone some changes before it was fixed in literature. All these peculiarities, however, do not loosen the ties of intimate relationship by which it is bound to its Hebrew sister. Nor is it difficult to see the reason of such intimate relationship. The striking similarity, both in grammar and vocabulary, which the Assyrian and Babylonian language bears to Hebrew is a natural consequence of the fact that the Babylonian and Hebrew peoples at one time dwelt together in long continued and close intercourse. The sub- sequent emigration of the latter to Palestine was not calcu- lated to exert an alienating influence on their language, as the original inhabitants of that country spoke a tongue not entirely foreign, and the external conditions of life were very nearly the same in Palestine as in their original home. All these circumstances prove that Assyriology is destined to play a most important part in the history of Hebrew lexicography. IV. Befoee considering the various advantages resulting to the understanding of the Old Testament from this intimate relationship between Assyrian and Hebrew it may be appro- priate to mention here an accidental merit of Assyriology which, though secondary, is of very high value. The pos- session of literary documents dating from periods of the Babylonian and Assyrian empire the most varying in time is certainly no small privilege of Assyriology. By the help of these authentic documents the origin of many hitherto doubtful Hebrew words has been explained, and a wholesome check has been put on the pernicious practice of forcing foreign etymologies upon genuine Semitic words. I am referring here to those Hebrew words concerning which great uncer- tainty exists whether they are Semitic or borrowed from the Persian or Greek. Thus ni^a, "fortress or castle," applied to the castle of Susa in the book of Esther, is explained in the ninth edition of Gesenius's dictionary by the Persian haru, "wall or fortress," and the Greek papti;. Now birtu, "castle," is often to be met with in the inscriptions of Shalmaneser H (860 — 824 b. c), as in the black obelisk, 1. 34, and occurs about twenty times in the annals of Ti- glath-pileser H, Sargon, and Sennacherib. It is, moreover, — 23 — mentioned in the dictionaries of the royal library of Nine- veh as a synonym of ^alsu, "fortification," or "fortified place, fortress." Compare rab birti and rab halm, both meaning ''governor of a fortress." The Semitic origin of the word is, therefore, no longer doubtful.^ Again, tTlSSI, "letter," in the post-exilic books, the usual term applied to official cor- respondence or decrees issued by the king, is not derived from the Persian engarideti, "to write." It is a Semitic word, as is proved by the Assyrian igirtu, the name given to an official letter addressed by an Assyrian officer stationed in the city of Erech to "the king, his lord," probably king Esarhaddon.^ We meet with the word also elsewhere, as in the lists of synonyms, where Hpirtu, "missive," is mentioned as a synonym of igirtu (see W. A. I. V. 32, 5—7). There is little doubt that these and similar words are of a late date in Hebrew, but ' As a Babylonian word, hvrtu demands of course a Babylonian etymology. It would, therefore, be wrong to connect the word with a root ^12. The Babylonian and Assyrian hvrtu, which passed into Hebrew under the form nT'S, must be referred to the common Assyrian root la/rA "to bind' (a sjTionym of rdk&m), from which Idritu "bond" or "fetters" is derived, Birta denotes a strong fortification and is espe- cially applied to a castle. Compare the passage Khors. 139: Viwrkis lirtam "I caused a fortress to be buUt," where uSarJeis literally means "I caused to be joined together." The Hebrew DIBS'! "mounds of earth" or "hills," from 031 "to bind," has an exact equivalent in the Assyrian hirwtu, "hills," from })ar4 "to bind." Sddd u Mriiti "moun- tain and hills" is a phrase of frequent occurrence in the inscriptions, see Sennach. Eass. 87. The Assyrian ha^u, "stronghold," a synonym of lirtu, and the Hebrew Vlin, "armed" and fi^S^n, "loins" are de- rived from the root yhn "to be strong", which in both dialects is distinct from the root vbfl, Assyr. hald^, "to pluck out." 2 See W. A. I. iy. 54 No. 2. — 24 — we need not therefore have recourse to Persian or Greek etymologies. Words that occur on the tablets of Asurbani- pal's royal library are exempt from the charge of such origin. ^ As to some other Hebrew words, theii- foreign origin is disproved by their mere occurrence in Assyrian. It is scarcely credible that the ninth edition of Gesenius's dictio- nary still doubts the Semitic origin of ''SX, "ship," and ad- ' The light we gain in this respect from the cuneiform inscrip- tions is not confined to Hebrew; it extends to Semitic lexicography in general. A considerable number of Targumic and Talmudic words, which Levy derives from the Greek in his dictionaries, occur in the Assyrian and Babylonian language, some in the very oldest documents. xiiax, "city gate"; Kjn&tt, "north wind"; XBl, "board, plank"; Sta^O or K5H''0, "sign," ft'''!!!*, "overseeer" or "watchman," which have been too rashly explained by the Greek i^i^ohl], o9evos, SditcSov, o-^[i.a and OTfifiEiov, oupo?, have their ancient Assyrian equivalents in ahmlu, istdnu, dofpa, simtu, simdrm and v/rdsu (for the latter word see Asurn. ii. 90. 100). The Aramaic laftd, "carrot," which, in spite of its genuine Semitic type (from fisi, "to wind"), has been derived from the Greek fiaTtus, occurs in the form Iwpti in a small Babylonian tablet containing about seventy names of plants, which the Babylonian king Mwrimk- hal-iddina ordered to be set in certain sections of his garden (garniati). Among the plants there enumerated we find also such names as huhht, t/arkdtm, "vegetables," Jc-urJuh-JccMii-tum, i. e., Jc41cdnUv, (from an Assyrian stem pyp, synonymous with saharn and lapdtu, "to wind" comp. the well-known "|i''p''p in the book of Jonah), Usdn Icalbu, (comp. Arabic ^_>AXJl ^jLwwJ); and pikkAti (nSlpQ). Even words the foreign ety- mology of which seemed to be tolerably certain have vindicated their Semitic character. Thus the Aramaic liTnN, poijl^ "chamber," which is generally compared to the Persian enderSm, is proved to be Semitic by the Assyrian idrdrni, "dark chamber" or "room," derived from "l^S, "to be dark"; comp. Addaru, "the dark month," in chapter ii. mits the possibility of an Egyptian etymology. All doubt is removed by the Assyrian umOu, pi. unaU, "utensil, vessel," a synonym of halu, halutu, Hebrew ""bs, "vessel," also "boat," as in Is. xviii. 2. ,If we except the geographical names and the proper names, including the title Pharaoh, there is hardly a single word of certain Egyptian origin to be found in the vocabulary of the old Hebrew language.^ The word of which the Egyptian origin seemed to be most certain is the well-known -[nas in Gen. xli. 43, of which there are about ten different explanations from the old Egyptian and Coptic languages, the most plausible of them being Ben- fey's a-bor-k, "fall down." It ought not to be forgotten, however, that this word, called out before Joseph riding in the royal chariot and adorned with all the insignia of a grand vizier, might just as well be his title, as is, indeed, the opinion of many ancient and modern translators, who render it, like Luther in the last edition of his version (is- sued 1545), ^^ Landesvater" (pater tenerrimus, ^^, patriae, in ' Even IN'^, "river" or "channel," wliich is commonly regarded as an Egyptian word and explained by the Egyptian aur "Nile," is un- doubtedly a genuine Hebrew word. This opinion is supported by the passage Job xxviii. 10, where B'^'IK'^ means "fountains in the rocks" or, according to some commentators, "subterraneous passages hewn out in the rocks." See also my remarks in Fa/radies, p. 312. The Assyrian form of the word, ya'wri "streams," occurs in an inscription of Raman- nirari I (c. 1320 B. C). Another derivative of the same root 1N^ or 1K1, which I believe means "to send," may be seen in the large in- scription of Nebuchadnezzar (col. vi. 46), where the vast ocean ti'dmtu gallatu, is called ya-ar-ri, i. e., t/dri ma/rti "the bitter stream" on account of its salt-water. The Hebrew name of the Nile, IS"; (As- syr. I'orM-'«-«), is probably an adaptation of the Egyptian word to the good Semitic name for "stream," ya'wm, ydru, IKr — 26 — the Enarration.es). Luther comments on the word as fol- lows: "As for the meaning of abrech, we will let the grumblers search till doomsday. Let us meanwhile understand it as we have rendered it in German." ^ We will not grumble about this word nor try to increase the number of hypo- theses, but no one can expect us to break our Assyrian tablets and shut our eyes intentionally against the light. It is a fact which, in spite of Schrader (Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament, p. 152), cannot be disputed, that aiardkku is the Assyrian name of the grand vizier, that high official who holds also the office of eponym, and, together with the turtan, is the highest dignitary of the empire — higher in rank than the Salat, or head of all pro- vincial governors. His ideographic form characterizes him as "the friend of the king." The reading of his well known ideogram, which is composed of the two signs H and um, as abarakhi is confirmed by the tablet Sm. 61, where, among a number of charming Sumerian and Assyrian proverbs, we read: Nadanu ia iarri tubbu Sa ia^e, "The liberality of the king ensures the liberality of the magnate"; and Nadanu ia iarri dummuh,u Sa abarakhi (in Sumerian Sima lugaldkii iaya i^dkit), "The liberality of the king ensures the bene- volence of the abarakhi," an exact equivalent of the Eng- lish proverb "Like master like man." Also the feminine abarakhatu is applied to goddesses as the highest adminis- trators of the sanctuary.^ As has already been seen by others, the original meaning of the Babylonian abarakhi, is "father of. the king," analogous with the Turkish title ata- ' "Was Airech heisse, lassen vyir die Ziinker suchen his an den jimgsten Tag; wollem dieweil verstehen, loie es gedeutscM ist." ^ Compare, for instance, W. A. I. iv. 63, 15. — 27 — bek, "father-prince," and 3suTspo? TraTrjp, according to the Septuagint a name given to Haman as grand vizier of Artaxerxes.^ ' Those who object to this explanation of rpaK on the ground that a Babylonian word is not likely to occur in the history of Joseph may be reminded of D^BB'iri, a word common both to the Egyptian episodes in Genesis and Exodus and to the book of Daniel (i. 20 and ii. 2). We now proceed to consider the immediate advantages resulting to the understanding of the Old Testament from the close affinity between Assyrian and Hebrew. Most of the so-called onzoL^ XsYOfASva and such words as chance to occur rarely in the Old Testament have pre- sented special difficulties to commentators. Thanks to the enormous extent and great variety of the monumental lite- rature of Assyria these difficulties are considerably dimini- shed. The Assyrian texts often furnish us with plentiful illustrations of these difficult words, and sometimes support textual readings which some commentators in their per- plexity had tried to emendate. Thus, to quote a few in- stances, various explanations have been proposed for the expression aiflTinaS in Ezek. xxi. 20 (verse 15 of the Authorized Version): "I have set the point of the sword against aU their gates." The translation "point of the sword" is merely guessed from the context. Hardly more successful is the rendering, based on the Arabic ^o., "threat of the sword" or ''threatening sword." Smend, the latest expositor of Ezekiel's prophecies, following Abu'l-Walld, translates "fulgor of the sword." ^ The context requii-es ' Smend, Ber PropJiet Uzechiel (Leipzig 1880), p. 141. — 29 — some such rendering as "slaughter," which is actually the translation to be found in the Septuagint (atpayia ^ojAtpafac) and in the Targumim. The question whether this translation is due to a mere guess or based on the textual emen- dation I'ln'finili is here immaterial. That both versions have hit the true sense is proved by the Assyrian abdhu, a synonym of tabdhu, "to slaughter," from which ndbafju, "rack," a synonym of ma}i.d§u (from IfAm, "to flay"), is derived.^ One of the many Assyrian names for "trap" or "snare" is saddu. We meet with the word in the bilingual text W. A. I. iv. 26 No. 2, wliere we read: saddu ina pat kUti ritu, iStu hiparrurtu (or sapdru) ia ana idmtim tarsu, itdni ^a nunu ul uspi, i. e. "a trap placed at the edge of the forest, a ned spread out over the sea, a net which allows no fish to escape." The meaning "trap" is secured not only by the ■ context, but also by the non-Semitic equivalent (ful-sar, i. e., "evil sling." I mention this word^ because it appears to me of great importance to a right understanding of the passage Jud. ii. 3: "and they (the peoples) shall be unto you D'^^Sb, and their gods shall be a snare (iCfsiiab) unto you." It is beyond our comprehension how the ninth edition of Gesenius's dictionary can approve of Bachmann's translation: "they shall be unto you as "sides," i e., "neigh- bours pressing on all sides." The Authorized Version, evi- dently guided by passages like Num. xxxiii. 55, translates: 1 See W. A. I. ii. 23, 9. " Compare also Sarg. Cyl. 57, where the moongod is called mnsaklim ?addS, i. e., he who reveals by his shining light the snares placed by the demons in the dark recesses of the earth to the de- struction of men. See, for instance, W. A. I. iv. 16 No. 2. — 30 — ''they shall be as thorns in your sides." The words "as. thorns" which are printed in italics, prove that the trans- lators felt the difficulty of the expression and tried to remove it. There can be no doubt, that D'^'^Jt is the Hebrew equivalent of the Assyrian saddu: D'l'l^ means, therefore, "traps," as is already indicated by the parallelismus mem- brorum, and the passage is to be translated: "they shall be unto you as traps, and their gods shall be a snare unto you."-' Passing over other instances like the verb SIT Job vi. 17, whose meaning "to burn" or "to scorch" is based on the wrongly assumed connexion with 2132 and vjlto, or nan Deut. xxxiii. 3, which Assyrian proves to be a synonym of NiC3^, I conclude this series of illustrations by a few remarks on the Hebrew nouns llBS and rntOS. These words are generally combined with the Syriac ^], "to pour out" or "to shed." In accordance with this etymology, 'IIBS ti'blTiT}, Num. xxi. 15 is translated "the stream of the brooks." This meaning, though appropriate in the passage just quoted, cannot be applied to passages like Deut. iii. 17. iv. 49 (naosn n^ias). The ninth edition of Gesenius's dictionary translates in Num. xxi. 15 "the pouring forth of the brooks" (Ergiessung der Bache), but adopts the reaso- nable rendering "under the slope of the Pisga" in the passages of Deuteronomy. The Assyrian iMu, Plur. iMdti, ' Like the Heb. "IS, the 4.ssyr. ^addrn means also ''side," for ia- stance, the back of a chair is called ^addu. The stem is lis, "to en- cu-cle" or "to surround," from which both meanings, "side" as well as "snare," may easily be derived. ' Observe how closely the two words follow each other in the passage Deut. xxxiii. 3. — 31 — "base" of anything, shows that "slope" or "foot of the mountain" is the proper meaning of miCS. IMwis used of the foundation of a house, of the base of a throne and the lower part of the sky; compare, for instance, the hymn W. A. I. iv. 20 No. 2, where the rising sun is adressed: Samai ina Hid Mme tappuha, i. e, "Oh Samas, thou hast come forth from the horizon of the heavens." VI. The names of animals, plants, and precious stones, which constitute a separate class of words among the oiTra^ XeYOjxsva and words of rare occurrence in the Old Testa- ment, may be conveniently discussed in a special chapter. An invaluable aid is here afTorded by the extensive lists of names of animals, plants, and precious stones, which the industry of the Assyrian scribes has bequeathed to us. We feel persuaded that these lists, when completed by future discoveries, will one day prove a rich mine of Semitic lexicography, in as much as the synonymous words which they contain and the ideograms or Sumerian symbols which they explain embody valuable suggestions as to the true meaning of these obscure words. The ideograms by which these names are designated usually express the characte- ristics of the respective animals or objects which they re- present. Thus it is easy to see that the bird kililu (kulili), which is characterized by its ideogram as one riding on the trees, must be the woodpecker. Again, such designations as "bird of the night," "queen of the river side," "golden bird," "star-eyed bird," "bird of the thornbush," "bird of the caves," "long-leg," "smasher of bones," which we gather from their respective ideograms, greatly aid us in identifydng the animals in question. Some of the unclean birds specified — 33 — in Levit. xi. are also included in these lists. Thus ITIBJS, TT -:' verse 19, occurs in the form anpatu (W. A. I. v. 27, 38 d), and means, according to its ideogram, "the bird of the light" {issur nuri). If we may venture to identify the ideo- gram of this bird with that occurring W. A. I. i. 28, 24 a. Asurn. iii. 49, the anpatu was hunted by the Assyrian kings on the right bank of the Euphrates near Karkemish. Asurnazirpal boasts of having captured with his own hand twenty of these birds.-' It has been long supposed that the bird, 013 mentioned in Pss. cii. 7 as dwelling on ruins, is a species of owls. The Assyrian lists of birds confirm this supposition. Kasusu is there given as a synonym of the non- Semitic surdu, "bird of the night," which is borrowed from the Accadian {fF. A. I. ii. 37, 15. 64 b. c).^ It is worthy of note that Onkelos translates 015 (Lev. xi. 17. Deut. xiv. 16) by ^^11?) 'which occurs in the form ^ac?M (syn. dku), in the list just quoted immediately before the explanation of kasusu. Another zoological name of very doubtful meaning on which light is now thrown by the Assyrian monuments is D'^ns^, occurring in the pathetic description of the future 1 Tlie Targumim render fiSSX by nri'^JaK and !13N, translations which are of little use as we are unacquainted with the meaning of these words. I may here mention that iini32N occurs W. A. I. ii. 37, 34 c in the form ibnitu as a synonym of Mdit, not of ampatu,. Un- fortunately the ideogram is not perfectly preserved. ^ The ninth edition of Gesenius's dictionary combines Di3 with 0''3, "bag", and mentions the obsolete explanation of Bochart, accord- ing to which bis is the pelecan, as the bird which has a bag attached to its head. I am of opinion that 013 is a form like aW. " The meaning of DX"), which falls under the same category, has been already discussed on p. 6. Delitzsch, Hebrew aud Assyrian. 3 — 34 — desolation of Babylon in Isaiah xiii. 21. The translation of the Authorized Version, which vaguely renders it by "doleful creatures," is not satisfactory. This aira$ XeYO[i.svov is generally translated by "owls" and derived from a sup- posed stem nnx, "to howl." There is no equivalent in the kindred dialects, except in Assyrian. The Assyrian dhu (syn. barbaru) is, however, not a bird, but a wild quadruped described as sacred to the god of fire, and feared on ac- count of its haunting the farmer's courtyard to carry off kids. Its name ahu characterizes the animal as the evil one. It is most likely the jackal. "^ Among the names of plants, of which some of these lists consist, one is of especial interest to us, being the Assyrian equivalent of the Hebrew nbstan. The name \liaba- sillatu occurs in the list W. A. I. v. 32 No. 4, containing all the different kinds of hanu, "reed," and of objects made of it. The corresponding ideogram characterizes it as Mdu, zikpu or pirhu ia ^dnS, i. e. "the stalk of the reed." ^ The * Houghtons interpretation of dM by "hyeira'' (see Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, vol. y. p. 328), which is adopted by Cheyne, is based on the erroneous supposition, that the ideogram wr-hwra means "the beast (dog) stripped." We know now, that ia/ra is the non-Semitic equivalent of ajd,, "evil" or "hostile" (see W. A. I. iv. 10, 27 — 28b, where lara (sic!) ^abdzu is translated by UbiuM a-htt-u; the following words are to be read: ana aSrisu litwr). The jackal is written w-ba/ra, i. e., the evil dog, just as the lion is written WT'maga, i. e., the big dog. ^ The ideogram s^-dM (or rn) occurs both with the determinatives of wood and of reed, sometimes without either (see W. A. I. iv. 7, 56a. Paul Haupt, AkTcadisohe wnd sumerische KeilschrifUexte , p. 124, 1. 16). Its invariable meaning is "that which shoots up from the root of a plant"; it is contrasted by siirSa, "root," and by Subulia, "ear" (of com). Mr. Theo. G. Pinches (see Athenaeum, 2. June, 1883) — 35 — usual translations, which waver between lily, narcissus, rose, and crocus (comp. 1'^ -^l'-"", "meadow-saffran , colchicum autumnale), are mainly based on the supposed connexion of nbsari with ^SS, "onion," and can, therefoje, no longer be entertained. The two passages (Isaiah xxxv. 1 and Cant. ii. 1), where tibaan occurs, are to be translated, "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and sprout like Ihe reed" ; "I am the reed of Sharon and the lily of the valley." Observe espe- cially the passage in Isaiah, where particular stress is laid on the germinating (ms) of the reed. According to its ideogram and in full agreement with this passage in Isaiah, the Assyr. habasillatu means pir^u Sa kanL Though it iis not impossible that habasillatu, nbsf Sin, may be a particular species of reed, it is extremely improbable, the explanation by lubhi ia i^dnS, i. e., "husk (lit. garment) of the reed," conveying too general a sense to admit of a more definite erroneously supposes that I misread Wfo for Tmhsn, which is men- tioned, together with ^aihih^ and ud/Um, as a synonym of hahofillaiu in the text above quoted. It is not probable that any Assyriologist would ever mistake the sign & for tub, least of all on a tablet so clearly written as W. A. I. V. 32 No. 4. The synonyms Hsu and zijcpv, axe taken from W. A. I. V. 26, ?9 e. ,£, 27 g. h. The lines 26. 27 g. h. prove that the non-Semitic M-dM (or rn) is as general a term as, the Assyrian pvr^, which is explained by twenty-one synonyms on the tablet K. 4375, publishe.d in part W. A. I. ii. 23. — I may here suggest that l«Js» is probably connected with nstuiiu, "lUy." If this suggestion be correct, the lily would derive its Hebrew name, not from the whiteness of its flower (comp. IB'^aJ, "white marble"), but from the stiff, reed-like appearance of its stalk. As to ^cM4rn, I doubt the correctness of the opinion advanced by Mr. Pinches,, that the word is borrowed from the Acca- dian, habdru being a synonym of labSu according to W. A. I. v. 28. UMiM is the feminin form of ud, , the name of a special kind of aro- matic reed. 3* — 36 — application. Besides, the general meaning "reed" fits ad- mirably ia the passages quoted. Another botanical name of high interest occurring in the list of plants ordered to be set by king Merodachbaladan (see p. 24, footnote) is hambaliuljiu , the Assyrian equivalent of the name of the prophet plj53n, the more correct form of which would be p'ipSH (lxx 'K]i.^o.xo^\i. , 'Afj,paKou'x). Other instances of names of plants used as proper names will readily occur to every student of the Old Testament. Less substantial is the help to be obtained from the Assyrian monuments for the names of precious stones men- tioned in the Old Testament. Still, it is interesting to know that names like n&lClJ (Ex. xxviii. 20; xxxix. 13; Ezek. xxviii. 13) and TVXVO (Esth. i. 6) occur in the Assyrian vocabularies and other texts in the forms dipu (W. A. I. v. 30, 60 h) and sihru (sihirtu? ii. 21, 9d).^ Many of the ideo- grams, by which, in Assyrian, the precious stones are de- signated, convey too vague a sense to assist in the identifi- cation of the objects intended. Thus, the ideogram of Mbu, the Assyrian equivalent of iSTB (Ex. xxviii. 19. xxxix. 12), denotes the shining or the precious stone (abnu nasfju or abmi akru) -/.az k^oyyi^. If we compare, however, the hymn published in our Assyrische Leses&cke, 2°^ edition,, p. 73 ss., ) ' As to the iiabnx, mentioned along with the iaiZJ in the pas- sage Exodus xxyiii. 19, we submit the following explanation. Starting from the well known fact, that many precious stones received their names from the countries where they are found, It is not improbable that fiabriN is the stone found in the country of Ahlamil, which is often mentioned in the Babylonian and Assyrian texts as an Armenian people and district. This conjecture is countenanced by the circum- stance that Seimacherib repeatedly praises Armenia and the adjacent countries of Nairi as a rich mine of certain precious stones; see W. A. J. i. 7, No. E. 44, 72 ss. — 37 — where Istar, the goddess of the morning star, is described as "arising over the earth like a fire" and "adorned with ^uM- atones,'' or if we remember that the channel of Tam- muz is written by the same ideogram with the determinative "river," we perceive at once that Subu, ia©, must be a stone of light colour like the topas. Thus, the usual ren- dering "achat" becomes rather improbable. It is a point of extreme interest, that the hymn W. A. L iv. 18 No. 3 mentions by name, as it seems, twelve precious stones of transcendent splendour, "enchased in gold and destined to adorn the shining breast of the king," the "precious stone" xat d$o/-)QV, the iubu or nisilitu, being, of course, amongst them. VII. It has been alreMy pointed out by Cheyne, in his excellent commentary upon the prophecies of Isaiah (Vol. ii, 1882, p. 160 f.), that the common rendering of the Hebrew root bit by "to dwell" can no longer be maintained. Owing to the unsatisfactory translation of "libap) Leah's words after being delivered of her sixth son Zebulon, in Gen. xxx. 20, "God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons," do not give a good sense. Cheyne rightly remarks that "the word is commonly so rendered, not to suit the context, but in obedience to a prejudice as to the meaning of b^ai." The latter word is usually translated by "dwell- ing," and byj is thought to be a denominative verb of it. The ninth edition of Gesenius's dictionary states that "it occurs in all dialects only as a denominative verb." The incorrectness of this statement ^is proved by Arabic, and especially by the Assyrian language. In Assyrian zabdlu is a very common synonym of naiu (Heb. siOJ), "to lift, to raise, to bear," — the very meaning, as St. Guyard has shown ^, wanted in the passage above quoted. The trans- lation "Now will my husband exalt or honour me" not See Journal Asiatique. agili-sepf. 1878, pp. 220 £f. — 39 — only suits the context, but agrees in substance with the' rendering o£ the Septuiagint, afpsttei [is, "he will prefer me." Light is also thrown by Assyrian) on the meaning' of S'lST itself. The original meaning of that word is not "dwelling" in general, but "elevated or high dwelling." It is, therefore, especially appHed to the heavenly dwelling- places of the sun and the moon (see Hab. iii. 11) and to> the high temple of God. "How suitably does Solomon, after alluding to Jehovah's dwelUng in thick clouds, refer to the newly built temple as a biat m^a, 'a house of height' (1 Kings viii. 13), a house which by its elevation pointed men upwards, to the heavenly temple!" (Cheyne.)'- Again, Hebrew bw means "banner"; but what is the meaning of the verb bv^ (Psalm xx. 6; Cant. v. 10)? The modern lexicographers and interpreters say that bw is de- rived from the Arabic J^^O, "to cover," the banner being "the cover of the stick," and that the Hebrew bsi is again a denominative verb, meaning "to erect a banner" or "to provide with a banner."^ Now, in the first place, it does not seem very probable that the banner should have been called in any language "cover of the flagstick." In the second place, the rendering of b^ST by "one provided with a banner" in Cant. v. 10, "My beloved is white and ruddy, conspicuous among ten thousand like a man provided with a banner," is most unnatural. The general import of bl3'1, which the Authorized Version translates well "the chiefest," ' The non-Semitic name of the famous temple of Bel in Babylon, M-sagila, has just the same meaning as Hebr. blSl fl^B; comp. W. A. J. ii. 15, 45 c. d. ^ Furst's explanation, who ascribes the meaning "to shine, to exalt" to the Hebrew stem bsi, would be far preferable. — 40 — is clear, but what is the original meaniag? Assyriologj solves the riddle. In Assyrian the banner is likewise called diglu. We read in a hymn addressed to the sungod, "Thou art the light of the furthermost ends of heaven, thou art the banner (diglu) of the vast earth; the vast nations look upon thee and rejoice."^ The verb from which diglu is derived occurs hundreds of times in the Assyrian texts, its simple meaning being "to see." The banner is, therefore, the object to which the eyes of the soldiers are directed — undoubtedly a far better explanation than "cover of the flagstick." b^y^ in Cant. v. 10 is, therefore, to be trans- lated, "My beloved is looked up to among ten thousand" — among ten thousand the eyes of every one are directed only to him. In the same manner the translation of the paren- thetic words in Psalm xx. 6, expressing the cheerful con- fidence of the believer in Jehovah's name and help, "We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners," had better be replaced by "We will rejoice in thy salvation, and keep our eyes directed upon the name of our God." The passage forcibly reminds one of an oracle sent to the king Esarhaddon from the goddess of Arbela: "Do not trust in men, direct thy eyes upon me, duguldni, i. e., look upon nie, keep thy eyes directed upon my name."^ Another verb that has been explained in the most divergent manner is Tas (see Gen. xliii. 30; Lam. v. 10), from which the names of the heathen priest (yds) and of ' W. A. I. IT. 19 No. 2. The Assyrian words are: aUvma «&•- imm sa Mppdt MmS ruiHltum, Sa irfitim rapaStim digilsina attdma; ma- ^alakdma ihddd nisS rapsdte. ^ W. A. I. iv. 68, col. ii : ina Sit amM4ti Id tatdlcil, mmtuh indka ana dU, dmguldtii. — 41 — the net (n'l'BDa) are derived. The last edition of Gesenius's dictionary, partly following the Septuagint, gives three diffe- rent meanings to this one root: firstly, "to hide," by ■which trittpla, "net," is explained as the object hidden in the water or on the earth; secondly, "to be dark or black," by which Tab, "priest," is interpreted to mean originally "blackness," then the "dark-dressed man" (Gesenius, "qui atra veste incedit, lugens, hinc aseeta, saeerdos"); thirdly, "to contract," therefore. Gen. xliii. 30, "His bowels were drawn together towards his brother." The two different meanings thus ascribed to one and the same form, HMS, and the etymological explanation of its derivatives, will hardly satisfy, any critical reader. How plain and simple becomes the difficulty by the comparison of the Assyrian dictionary ! The verb kamaru occurs very often on the As- syrian monuments, meaning everywhere "to strike down, to throw down, to overpower." An Assyrian vocabulary which we have lately examined shows that kamaru is a synonym of daku (SDI, riDT) and labdnu (comp. the phrase labdn appi, "to throw down the face, to adore"). By applying this meaning to the Hebrew passages in question every difficulty is removed. Who can deny that the following translations are at once the most simple and the most satisfactory? Gen. xliii. 30: "And Joseph made haste; for his love was overpowered towards his brother, and he sought where to weep."^ 1 Kings iii. 26: "Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her love was over- powered towards her child," &c. Hos. xi. 8: "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? mine heart is turned within 1 D'^ani means love as well as bowels; the following passage Hos. xi. 8 teaches that it had better be taken iu the fonner sense. — 42 — me, my sympathy (not "repenting") is totally overpowered." Turning to the explanation of the passage Lauj. v. 10, it will be remembered that images taken from the oven are not unfrequently used in Assyrian proverbs. Thus we read^ Kima tinuri Idbiri ana nukkurika maris, "Like an old oven he is too weak to do thee mueh harm," i. e., like an oven he has no strength, or, in accordance with the Eastern custom, like a pot the sides of which are burst by too long use and by exposure to violent heat, he is powerless. The passage' in Lam. v. 10 is therefore to be translated "Our skin has been overpowered like an oven," i. e., has become powerless^ or lost its vigour and power of resistance, "by the burning of the famine." Finally, as to the name of the net and the heathen priest, the former is called STljO^'a as the instrument by which the prey is overpowered or thrown down (compare the frequent Assyrian phrase "Like a net ashwp-lu" "I threw him down," from qno); while the priests, or Di"ltt3, are the persons who throw themselves down on their faces and adore (comp. 'ISO and laban appi). The Syriac l^^ioa, "sad, dejected," confirms the correctness of my view. In the same manner other Hebrew verbs of frequent occurrence, for instance nio^ could be explained, not by any hypothesis, but merely by following the invaluable vocabularies of the old Babylonian and Assyrian scholars as well as the context. » W. A. I. ii. 16, 10—13 d. ^ The verb ijnj has been already discussed on p. 5. vni. Hebrew lexicography is bound to look for help to the Assyrian dictionary chiefly in those cases where a verbal root is only preserved in derivatives. In the majority of these cases Hebrew lexicography is quite unable to give the original meaning of a word. Thus we know that ']nh is the father-in-law, but we cannot tell why he is so called, the verb IJin occurring only as a denominative verb. Again, we know that IsaiB means "staff," but we are quite in the dark about the original meaning of the root "oyO. Of course, no blame of any kind attaches to Hebrew lexico- graphy for having recourse in such cases to the kiadred dialects. What I do censure is the indiscreet use made of Arabic, the pernicious practice of forcing Arabic meanings on Hebrew words with an obviously different sense, an error which is greatly aggravated by the bold confidence with which these etymological speculations are put forward. Could any linguist, however little acquainted with the laws of comparative philology, think it possible that the eighth edition of Gesenius's dictionary proposes in right earnest the following development of meanings for 'jrih, "father-in- law" ? Itin, like the Arabic (\Xh^, means "to circumcise," and, further, "to incise, to penetrate, to go into" another — 44 — family. Both, father-in-law and mother-in-law, are called ■jrn and nTp, because through the marriage of their daughters they press, or gain entrance, into another family. Is it possible to conceive such a strange idea? And is it not to be regretted that young beginners in Hebrew, who look upon Gesenius's dictionary as their safest guide, are thus misled, and that ideas of so preposterous a character are instilled into their minds concerning "Semitic modes of thought"?^ Arabic scholars are perfectly justified in reject- ing all those hazardous explanations of Assyrian words by the Arabic dictionary^; but why do they not stop, for the sake of Semitic science in general, such an abuse of Ara- bic in the treatment of Hebrew? The Assyrian language, which, as we have seen, is not only intimately related to Hebrew, but possesses a literature three times larger than the Old Testament, supplies all these verbal stems which are wanted, showing them in living use in numerous in- stances. The truth of this statement will be fully proved by our Assyrian dictionary, which, we hope, will demon- strate conclusively that the sacred tongue of David and ' Compare what is said in the preface of the eighth edition, of Gesenius's dictionary about the "Semitischen Vorsielhtngskreise." We remark with satisfaction that the ninth edition has given up the above mentioned explanation of the name of the parents-in-law. According to the ninth edition they are thus called as those who decide, the decision as to which husband their daughter is to be given being left to them. ^ As abhi, "son," by J.a;8, "to be childless"; sto, ."the other," siUu, "the rest," by cy^Aut! ma'<u, "bed," by Juyo, "inclination," pihrw, "total number" or "body" (of people), by ^.SJo, "sea," &c. — 45 — Isaiah has no longer need to languish in the fetters of Arabic lexicography.^ The Assyrian verb hatanu, from which the words for affinity are derived, meant originally "to surround, to pro- tect." The Assyrian magician sees in a dream the king Asurbanipal fighting in the midst of his enemies, but he sees at the same time the goddess Istar protecting him and surrounding him (hdtinat) on every side.^ The verb hatanu is very common in the sense of "to protect, to help, to support"^; the parents-in-law are called 'jrih and flSrih as ' The excessive comparison of Arabic has frequently induced the continuators of Gesenius's work to set aside the correct views of the original compiler, whicli are often confirmed by the evidence of Assyrian research. Thus, the Hebrew name of the mule, TIB, is explained in the two last editions of the dictionary by the Arabic )t\i, "to be single" or "to live apart," the mule being called I^B as the isolated animal , incapable of propagating itself. Gesenius rejects this expla- nation as well as the improbable opinion of Bochart ("quia natus sit ex parentibus qui a consorte naturali sepa/rati cnm alienis copulentur") with the judicious remark: "Utrumque longius petitum est." According to his own view, the mule derived its Hebrew name from its extreme celerity. This etymology, which is based on the comparison of the 7 Syriac j ^.s, "to fly, to flee," is further strengthened by Assyr. pardAu, "to be impetous," from which the weU-known noun and adjective pm-tdu, "impetuosity, vehemence, power" and "impetous, quick" is de- rived; comp. W. A. I. iv. 5, 47 b: "the messenger ana Ha pwtdu iUik went speedily to the god Ea." For analogous change of the two meanings "powerful" and "quick" comp. Heb. "I'JKB 1 Sam. xx. 19. '■* Smith, Asurbanipal p. 125 f.: ina TcirimmUa tditi tah^nkdma ta^tefia gimir IdnSka, pdnusa isdtu innapih Ssszis ana TcaMd ndkirelca, ^c, i. B., „by her fair body she shielded thee and encompassed thee on all sides; out of her face fire was kindled to vanquish thy enemies," &c. ' See W. A. I. ii. 39, 2 f. Sarg. Cyl. 4 and other passages. — 46 — those -who protect and support the young family. That this explanation is in harmony with "Semitic thought" is con- firmed by the synonyms Dn, "father-in-law," fl'lBfl, "mother- in-law," which are derived from the same verb TTatl, "to surround," as Piaifl^ "the surrounding and protecting wall." Why is the stick called tSSTB in Hebrew ? Gesenius's dictionary combines the word, without putting any query, with the Arabic iaA*g, "to be lank" (of the hair). It cannot be questioned that a stick or a rod, especially one used for punishment, may be "lank"; still, this etymology must now be given up, because Assyrian shows clearly that Mbtu, "the stick," is derived from Sabatu, "to strike, to beat, to slay," the stick being the instrument of beating.^ We may add that Furst, aided by the Targumic and Tal- mudic idiom, has already proposed this etymology. Like all Semites, the Hebrew people called the flock, both of sheep and goats, 'jSS. We did not know why, be- cause no Semitic language has the verb 'JS2 in living use. The latest editiohs of Gesenius's dictionary think it probable that the name of the flock is to be compared with the Arabic .^Xjo, "to be small, sick,' emaciate." Poor Semitic people! Indeed, if anything could point to the desert as their original home, small and emaciated sheep and goats would do so. The Babylonians and Assyrians, like the other Semitic nations, called the flock senu, but they have ' For the verb sabdtu, "to beat, to slay, to kill" compare W. A. I. iv. 16, 9 b; 27, 21b. Assyr. Sibtu means both, "scepter'' and "slaughter.'' — 47 — preserved at the same time the verb "jSS in numerous -passages. It is one of .the most common synonyms of (dbu, "to be good, benevolent,"^ the flock being called $^nu be- cause of the tameness and gentleness of the animals com- posing it; this is real "Semitic thought," as is shown by the Arabic ^ n> - The verbal root IBIS?, from which te-iy, "bed," is de- rived, is not preserved in IJebrew. The word is generally compared to the Arabic (JLwC, "booth" or "shed" or "throne"; yi'j.s r, "wooden structure made for a grape viae"; and yiyfi., "to erect a '«rS or 'arf^." 'ttT^,, is therefore ex- plained as a bed having a canopy, or a booth made of branches, in which people used to sleep during the hot summer months, and J. Low ^ thinks that he can trace this meaning in Cant. i. 16. to"i5> means, however, only "couch" or "bed," and the Syriac JjjjL has the additional sense of "bier." It is certainly very improbable that the He- brews, Babylonians, and Aramaeans had such luxuries as four-post beds at that remote period when they stiU dwelt together. Also in Assyrian irhi or &rhi is "bed," and the verbal root ^re^u means, like rapadu (IBI), "sternere," or "to spread out." to"iy is, therefore, simply "stratum." To quote some other instances, Hebrew lacks the ver- bal root from which rTlTC, "beloved" (Eccles. ii. 8), is de- rived. We have already shown in another place that ' Compare our remaxks in Wilhelm Lotz, Die Inschriften Tiglath- pilesers I, p. 86 f. ^ Aramdische Pflanzermamen, p. 89. — 48 — Assyrian possesses a root 'ITO, "to love," from -wliicli ludMu, "lover," is derived. The ninth edition of Gesenius's dictionary, though taking notice of this etymology of iT^TB, keeps to the old explanation, according to which the word meant originally "lady," and is to be compared to the Arabic 5jJ!*«. The same edition alleges also the Tal- mudic nilB, "chest" or "chestlike seat for the women on the back of the camel." All these explanations are at variance with the principles of grammatical formation, common sense, and the plain fact that TTniC means "the beloved," not "lady."i A word common both to Hebrew and the Aramaic dialects is bin;, "valley" or "brook." This word is usually derived from a supposed verbal root bflD, which is said to be related to bbn, "to hollow out." This is, however, a mere conjecture. The Assyrian nahlu or nahallu means likewise "valley" or "ravine" or "brook." The verb nahdlu, "to compress" or "to confine," is, however, preserved at • We may here be permitted to propose a new explanation of the well known divine attribute i^UJ, which is usually combined with the Arabic JotX^, "strong," the form itself being defined as an ab- stract noun terminating in ai (see Stade, Sebraische OrwrnmatiTc, §. 301 a). In the Assyrian list of synonyms W, A. I. v. 28, 82 h Sad4 is ex- plained as a synonym of Sajcu,, "to be high," and the succeeding line is devoted to the definition of sdM, "mountain," syn. gdblwm. We doubt whether any linguistic grounds can be urged against the analysis of the word i1](a as the form (Jk,*i from muj, "to be high or to be ele- vated." Assyrian phrases like Hil sdM rah4, "Bel, the great rock or mountain" and proper names hke Ilu-sdd4'a, "God is my rock," are in favour of this etymology. — 49 — the same time. The Assyrian nahlu and the Hebrew bHD, "valley," is, therefore, the space confined between two hills or mountains. The word was afterwards applied to the brook flowing in the vaUey. Hebrew "T'Hia, "price," has an exact Assyrian equi- valent in mafitru. In Hebrew "m as a verb is not in use; in an Assyrian dictionary at least ten pages could be iilled with verbal forms of mahdru, "to receive" — the price, the wages is simply that which is received. In like manner Si^S, "prophet," "Tli, "vow," and many other words, are for the first time supplied with a satis- factory etymology by the Assyrian dictionary. Reserving the explanation of these curious words for future discus- sion, we cannot forbear expressing our entire agreement with the interpretation of the important word rTi"]3, put forth in the two latest editions of Gesenius's dictionary. It is no small merit of the editors to have discovered that the primary meaning of rT^ia is "decision or ordinance or de- cree," and that "covenant" is the secondary signification. There is, indeed, in Assyrian a verbal stem bai'u, "to de- cide," which occurs, for instance, in an invocation to Izdu- bar (Sm. 1371). The whole passage deserves to be tran- scribed: ddna-ta-ma M-ma Hi ta-bar-[ri], ta-az-za-az ina ir^i-tim ta-gam-mar di-[na], di-in-ka ul in-nin-ni ul im-meS a [-mat-ka], ta-ial ta-ha-ti ta-da-ni ta-bar-ri u tuS-tS-sir, SamaS Hb-ta u purusd ha-tuh-ka ip-lj/id, iarrdni MkkandM u rubute pdnuka ka.m-su, ta-bar-ri te-re-ti-^u-nu purusd-^u-nu ta-par- ra-a^, i. e. "Thou art a judge and decidest like a god; thou standst upon the earth, holding judgment; thy judg- ment is not reversed nor [thy sentence] ignored; thou rulest, thou examinest, thou judgest, thou decidest and governest, Samas has put the scepter and decision into thy hand. Delitzsch, Hebrew and Assyrian. , 4 — 50 — Kings, potentates and magnates bow before thee; thou fixest their laws, thou directest their decrees." ^ Assyrian is of equal value in those instances, where a Hebrew verb is only preserved in derived conjugations, while the meaning of the Qal is obscure. One instance may suffice. The well-known Hebrew verb n'lb^ri, "to treat any one ignominiously, to insult him," not occuring in the Qal, we cannot tell the original meaning of the Hifil. The ninth edition of Gesenius's dictionary says, "The verb means 'to hit, ferire,^" and compares Arabic IJIX "to wound," in the second form "to speak, to address anybody" (originally to lash, see aton in the eighth edition). Now the Assyrian has the two verbs kaldmu and haldmu, "to ' As we have had occasion to remark in chapter iv, the advan- tages to etymological research resulting from the study of Assyrian extend also to the Semitic sister tongues, more especially to the Ara- maic dialects. Thus the well-known Syriac word | IVi oZ^ "inter- preter," of which the Assyrian form ia/rgwmdmi has been recently dis- covered by Mr. Tlieo. G. Pinches (see Procedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, Feb. 6, 1883, p. 73), receives for the first time a satisfactory etymology by the Assyrian verbal root ragdwm, "to speak," from which rigmu, "word," is derived. Targmndnu is "the speaker," who speaks for others by interpreting their words. Even the ninth edition of Gesenius's dictionary keeps to the traditional ety- mology, according to which ta/rgwmanm is to be derived from D!s"i, "to throw with stones" or "to stone," the transition of meaning being ex- plained by the comparison of the Latin jacere, "to throw," with its compound trqjicere, "to translate." Again, the Qal of the Aramaic b^ti, "to persuade," is proved by the Assyrian saddlti to be a syno- nym oi paM, "to be open." Irsitu, sddiltu is "the wide earth"; IdJm sddilim is a "wide door." i'ni!5 thus answers exactly to the Hebrew nns. — 51 — be small"; kalumu is a child (W. A. I. ii. 30, 43c); kal- matu and halmatu are, as in Aramaic, the names for the smallest beasts, like the worms; the vocabularies call ex- pressly iJaZmw (kalmu) a synonym of J<.allu, Heb. h'p_ (ff. A. I. ii. 36. 40. 41a). Thus Assyrian kullumu, "to treat any one ignominiously," meant originally "to estimate lightly," parvi aestimare, leve hahere. Hebrew D^^Dp is therefore the exact synonym of %p, ^p.H. IX. The Assyrian verb is frequently used in a sense dif- fering from that of its Hebrew equivalent, th,us showing the original meaning of the latter. The Assyrian nahatu means "to be bright" or "to shine," and in the causative form, "to cause to shine" or "to make bright." The ideas of brightness and sight being so intimately related, we can see at once the true etymology of the Hebrew i233, Hifil IS'^an, "to look." The ninth edition of Gesenius's dictionary compares the Arabic ]aj^, "to spring forth," and the Tal- mudic 1:35, "to sprout forth," thus, it appears, thinking it possible that t3''3n, "to look," is literally "to cause to spring forth," sc. "the looks from the eyes." But by such arbitrary additions many other actions could be called tailall. The same edition states that the original meaning of nbD, "to forgive" or "to remit sins," is "to loose." This explanation is given without a query, and the Arabic equivalent is not even referred to. Now the Assyrian salahu means "to sprinkle," and is used with reference to sacrificial jpurification. This etymology is at once simple and in full accordance with Hebrew modes of thought. The etymology of T'D, "to cultivate a field," and T^D, "cultivated field," is still explained in the latest edition of Gesenius's dictionary by the curious assumption that T^p is — 53 — much the same as I"*??!, the Hifil of li:, and that T^J literally means den Acker lichten, or "to till the field." There is, however, no analogy for such a mutilation of a Hifil form. A single glance at the glossary of any Assy- riological publication would have shown the editors of the dictionary whence a much more likely etymology of "1"': is to be obtained. In Assyrian T'S means "to subjugate," and is used of the cultivation of the ground. Nh'u is "yoke." The expression has an exact equivalent in the Latin "do- mare" and "subigere." The question as to the primary signification of the Heb. TlS, "to curse," has often been raised, but all at- tempts at a satisfactory explanation have proved unsuccess- ful. Now, the Assyrian verbal stem araru, though com- monly meaning "to curse, to lay under the ban" (compare arraiu, "curse"), is frequently used in the sense of "to bind" or "to catch." Compare also arm, "fowler,", irritu, "sling «?• fetter." We are inclined to believe that this is the ori- ginal meaning of the Heb. "ns, an opinion which derives con- siderable support from the analogy of the Heb. "i^n. "<^o bind" and "to bind by means of charms" or "to charm." By an attentive study of the Assyrian dictionary doubts are often created as to the correctness of etymologies apparently genuine and long since accepted. Thus, the current etymology of Heb. nS|3, "to reap" and "to be short," which is based on the comparison of the Arabic yiA'a, "to cut," is both simple and satisfactory. By means of the cutting scythe the harvest is accomplished. The in- strumentality of cutting is required to shorten that which is long. Turning to Assyrian, however, we find a verbal stem ha^dru, "to bind" or "to collect." "l''2]?, "harvest" — 54 — might, therefore, with equal right be defined as the time of gathering (compare ^''PS), and 12]?, "to be short" would literally be "to be srictum" or "constrictumy So far both etymologies are equally natural and convincing. In addition to "harvest," however, niS]? means also "bough," which is explained, in accordance with the former etymology, as the "cut off" object. But are we to imagine "cut off" boughs in passages like Isaiah xxvii. 11, Job xiv. 9 or Ps. lxxx. 12: "She (the vine) sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river"? Gesenius, perplexed by the difficulty of explaining T'S]?, "bough," by "Sp, "to cut," is inclined to separate "liSj? entirely from 12p. By adopting the Assyrian etymology of 12p ("to bind") every difficulty is removed. Analogous with -liiC, nDlil) and nhi> the bough was called "T'Sp on account of its twisted condition. Few etymologies have so much exercised and vexed the ingenuity of Semitic scholars as that of biBia, with its two discrepant meanings "to be similar" and "to govern." The ninth edition of Gesenius's dictionary, adopting the conjecture of Fleischer, explains blC)3 by the Arabic JuOo, "to stand" or "to stand erect" like the servant who stands erect (JoLJI) before his master. The following develop- ment of meanings is proposed for J^ix: "to place, to place oneself or a thing in a certain position, to represent, to place a thing by the side of another, to compare." bltlZ is, therefore, said to mean "representation" and blCtt, "go- vernor," is represented as "he who stands in the govern- ment" (msbiaa is boldly supplied, with the comparison of the Arabic phrase 5l3CiL++JLj *Lis)- We think that many an objection could be brought forward against this etymology. -The same verbal stem, maMhi, exists in Assyrian. We frequently — 55 — read in the annals of the Assyrian kings: "I planted a park tamMl Mdu Hamani "in the likeness of the mountain of Chaman" or "I built a palace tamM ekal liatte "in the likeness of a Hittite palace." Miilani are "two equal hal- ves," and Mmhilu means "to divide into two equal halves." Ma^dlu means, however, also "to shine. "^ MuMlu, "splend- our," is a general term for anything of a shining character. biBia is the governor as the person who is distinguished by the splendour of his appearance. The Hebrew and Assyrian ito, iarru, "prince, king," exhibits the same primary signification. The Hebrew word is usually derived from a supposed stem "niB, "to govern," this meaning being obtained by the assumption that "to govern" is literally "to divide" or rather "to dispose," the root being ni25, "to cut." Sarru being the name of the king in Babylonia and Assyria, we naturally look for an Assy- rian etymology of the word. Now in Assyrian iardru is "to shine," iaimru is the magnificent splendour of the stars, of the rising sun Qarur Sarrdi). It is a synonym of the common Assyrian word m^lammu (see W. A. I. ii. 35, 7 e. f), especially applied to the splendour of royal majesty. Compare phrases like: pulhe melammS bSluti'a iskupu^u "the fear of the splendour of my majesty threw him down." Tiglathpileser I styles himself "the bright day, whose splendour overthrows the four quarters of the Universe." Observe also the proud appellation Sanud mdti, "the Sun of the country," often used by the Assjrrian and Babylonian monarehs. It can, therefore, hardly be doubted, that our explanation both of blBTO and "lie is in full accordance with Oriental modes of thought.^ ' The objection raised by Paul Haupt (see NachricMen. von, der <3-6Uinger &es. d. W., 25. April 1883, p. 105 f.) that the meaning "to shine" — 56 — The Heb. Tito, "to govern," is evidently formed from niC, just as ^btt, "to he king," is derived from 1\b)2, "king." The king is called tjbtt, malik, as he who decides. The Arabic meaning of liLLo, "to take possession of a thing," seems to be the latest development of the meanings of the stem ^bB. is assumed for too many Assyrian words, is not valid. All languages are rich in such terms. The only difficulty consists in discovering the shades of difference between the various synonyms. The verb nasdlni, by which this objection was occasioned, cannot mean "to string to- gether" ; ahoM nisikti or simply nisiMn is not the pearl, but the precious stone. Nasdihu is a synonym of ak&m (1p1), "to be precious"; ahan ninlfti and dhan ai:arfu mean both "precious stone." What sense does that supposed meaning "to string together" yield in passages like W. A. I. i. 7 E. 44, 72. v. 33 b, or on the newly discovered monu- ment of Nebuchadnezzar I., where the king styles himself ruM nddn nasku, "the great, the sublime, the magnificent"? X. In some instances even the rich stores of the Assyrian vocabulary fail to provide us with the verbal roots of certain derived nouns common to Assyrian and Hebrew. The Assy- rian language, however, amply compensates for this defect by a number of derivative forms, from which valuable sug- gestions as to the original meaning of the root in question may be gathered. Thus the word for "stone" is formed from the root pN in all the Semitic languages, except in Arabic, where a special word, , •gry.^ , is in use. Nevertheless the Arabic verbal root 'abana, "to clot" (of the blood), is stated to represent the original meaning of the root pS, the stone being called pS as the hardened object. I doubt the cor- rectness of this etymology. In addition to ahnu, "stone," Assyrian possesses other derivatives of the same root, e. g., ubdnu, "point of a rock" or "tip of the finger." It is, therefore, very probable that the original meaning of the root ]3S is "to be pointed," and that pS is the stone as the pointed object. ^ 1 The etymology of oax, "bog," proposed in the latest editions of Gesenius's dictionary is another instructive instance of the danger attending the injudicious comparison of Ai-abic verbs, with obviously late meanings. Hebrew phrases like BS3 "'aas, "troubled in spirit". — 58 — The question concerning the original meaning of nbS'^, "cake made of pressed figs," is likewise satisfactorily ans- wered by the Assyr. diiblu, which is given W. A. I. ii. 35, 43 e as a synonym of iMu and nirmu, the synonyms of uMe, "foundation." HbS'n is, thus, an expression analogous with nffliTBi?^ "cake made of pressed raisins." The etymology of few words has been the subject of so much discussion as that of DIS, "man." It has been supposed that D'lS is connected with ntt^St, "ground," which is prima facie not improbable. The translation "earth- born," however, is not admissible, as Ewald has conclusi- vely shown on grammatical grounds. It is impossible to mention here the numerous explanations of the word which have been put forward. An account of them will be found in any linguistic commentary on Genesis. Dillmann rightly remarks: "A certain etymology for D"1S has just as little been found as for homo." Qlt? is in Hebrew and Phoenician the generic name of man. It is also preserved in Himyaritic, but lost in Arabic. In Assyrian a verbal root D1S is pre- served in a number of derived nouns, which show that the original meaning of the root is synonymous with that of n;2, "to build" or "to beget." Thus we have admdnu, and the analogy of the Aramaic and Assyrian dialects (compare the Assyrian agdnm, "to be sad") plainly indicate that the original mean- ing of the root dSN is "to be troubled." The "bog" is, therefore, called nax, Assyr. agammu, from the "troubled" or "turbid" state of its water. It is surprising that so simple an etymology should have failed to re- commend itself to the attention of the editors of the dictionary, who _ s assert that the Arabic |V2>-I; "to stink," which is undoubtedly a, deno- ' ^* minative verb derived from |».a»t, "bog," represents the original mean- ing of the root d;x. — 59 — "building" or "dwelling-place," and admic, "child," which is expressly stated to be a synonym of liddnu (nbl), and is especially used of the young of a bird.^ Compare also the analogous expression abal issuri, "young bird," with Hebrew nDi^'p, "young pigeon." DHS is therefore synonymous with ]3, meaning "the begotten one" or "the created one." The verbal root DHi? was then used of the cultivation of the ground^; JTa'jS: is therefore "the cultivated ground," as in Gen. iv. 2, and n'a'lS an!« (2 Chron. xxvi. 10) is "the lover of agriculture" or "the agriculturist." The Assyrian reduplicated root dadam (comp. babalu, "to bring," aside of abalu, bni) means likewise "to cultivate," and dadmu is "dwelling-place" or "cultivated land," or "country" in general. Another word whose true etymology has hitherto been vainly sought for is nsj, "brother." Now the Assyrian equi- valent, dhu, has the additional sense of "side." Jhu, "brother," may therefore be defined as the person who stands by the side of the firstborn or as the next kinsman, or, again, both words may be derived from the same ver- bal stem nns, "to surround" or "to protect." The Hebrew name of the brother would thus be analogous with the Sanskrit bhratar. The etymology of DS, "mother," set forth in the latest edition of Gesenius's dictionary is a characteristic specimen of modern Hebrew lexicography. DS is there mysteri- ously explained as the person who precedes the child, the ' See W. A. I. ii. 37, 21 e. f. ^ It may be interesting to note that in the Talmud the participle of the Pual of 1152 is used in the same sense, see Sota 34b: flJSB, "cultivated" (Eashi: nil^sa nsffiia, "covered with fruits"). — 60 — I Arabic verbal root ^t meaning "to precede" or "to go before." The mother certainly precedes the child in point of time, but the same may be said of the father. Another derivative of the root DBS, namely mss, "cubit," is ex- plained as meaning originally "forearm," the forearm being the mother of the arm. If the forearm be the mother of the arm, the upper arm is probably the father. Where is, then, the child? Finally, riBX, "nation," is defined, in strict accordance with the explanation given by the native lexico- legists of the Arabic equivalent jLct, as the collective body of men following a common leader, or ^Lit. It must be r © owned that these explanations possess a certain degree of ingenuity, but they are hardly satisfactory. The Assyrian verbal root DBS means "to be wide" or "spacious." Ummu is therefore "the womb" (in which sense it often occurs in Assyrian), as the roomy receptacle of the child, then "the mother." Compare the analogous use of Hebrew DH"!, "womb," in the sense of "woman," in Judges v. 30 (a';in'ar!'l). Ammatu, "cubit," signified originally "width" or "length," like the Hebrew iT]33 and similar terms, and was afterwards applied to a definite measure. riBS, in Assyrian ■ummu, is "the nation," as a vast or numerous body of men. NiSS rapMte, "the vast nations," is one of the commonest expressions occuring in the annals of the Assyrian kings. XI. Having thus shown that the Assyriaa language reveals for the first time for a large class of isolated Hebrew nouns the signification of the stems from which these nouns are derived, we now proceed to prove that the very rich cuneiform litera- ture unlocks for us not only the meaning of many word-stems, but also in a large number of cases reveals the stems themselves. It is impossible here systematically to present all the various classes of words whose true etymology is for the first time obtained, and to illustrate them by ex- amples. We must confine ourselves to a few cases, but these will suffice not only to show how necessary is a revision of the Hebrew lexicon by the aid of the lexicon of the nearest related Semitic language, the Assyrian, but also to show how revolutionary such a revision must prove. It is well known that the Hebrew, like the South Semitic languages, had two n's, which were, indeed, repre- sented by the same character in writing, but which in pro- nunciation differed considerably from each other, and were certainly kept distinctly apart. Wherever the Arabic lacks an equivalent (I omit the Ethiopic intentionally), it has been until now simply impossible to pronolmce the Hebrew stem correctly. The Assyrian, which has reduced its weak n to a spiritus lenis, but has firmly preserved its strong n. — 62 — puts an end to all doubt. It proves the incorrectness of a wtole list of assumptions which were only too hastily based on Arabic stems with similar, or even in part with quite different meanings. All Arabic comparisons which the ninth edition of Gesenius's dictionary makes for such words as nin, I'lnrj, tin, tinn, bion, n-\y, Tina, yn^z, ^no, and n^ia are unquestionably proved to be wrong by the Assyrian equivalents hadu, "to rejoice"; harisu, ,,moat"; kdiu, „to hasten"; hwiu , "forest"; haMlu, "to crush"; zardhu, "to rise" (of the sun, for instance); mahdzu, "^'town"; mahdsu, "to strike" (used as in Hebrew of smiting the thighs as a gesture of grief); sahdpu, "to overthrow"; sdhu, ,,to sprout"- [Mhtu, "a sprout"). In most cases no blame is to be laid on Hebrew lexicography; still, the mistake might easily have been avoided of giving a 1} to the Hebrew word for "to rejoice" (mn) on account of the Arabic \S^, "to urge camels by singing to them," or to the word for "to rise" (mt) on account of a rare Arabic equivalent meaning "to strew" (_;<>)• Further, the Assyrian elucidates with surpri- sing clearness stems whose numerous meanings have often been brought into comiexion in the strangest manner, by showing that the supposed single stem represents really two, one with h, the other with h. Thus the Assyrian shows that Heb. fTj, "arrow" (Assyr. us^u), and fSn, "to cut off, to pierce" (Assyr. hasdsu), go back to quite different stems; that nns, "to open" (Assyr. pitu), and nnB, "to carve, to engrave/' for instance on wood or stone (Assyr. patdhu), have nothing at all to do with each other. Assyrian is helpful in still other ways. The Hebrew verb nica has the two meanings "to anoint" and "to measure." It has been supposed that we have here a single verb, because in Arabic 63 the surveyor is called _L»wc, with , and the two meanings have been united in a characteristic manner by saying that nwa means properly to stroke, to spread, either with dye or oil = to anoint, or by passing the hand over anything = to measure. But in Assyrian "to measure" is maMhu, the „measure" is niBsihiu, the "surveyor'' is mahhu. It appears at once that the Arabic proves nothing at all ; that , on the contrary, L»Jo, precisely like _!iLo (Assyr. maldhu), "boatman," is simply borrowed in Arabic.^ ' We must persist in the non-Semitic origin of the Semitic word malAJm (mallShm), which is expressly attested by the Assyrians them- selves, see W. A. I. v. 21, 5c.d. Assyr. malalm cannot be connected with the Semitic word for "salt," nbc, with li. The fact that Hebrew nVa occurs only in passages of the books of Ezekiel and Jonah is in favour of the late indroduction of the word into Hebrew. XII. Passing on to other illustrations of the same fact, we find that the Assyrian often leads to an entirely different stem from that which has been until now accepted. The well-known measure lis, 13, xopo?, having the same meaning as "Wn, can per se be derived from ~n3 or from IID; the Assyrian kdru, from which the name of the inspector of measures and weights, rail kare?-, comes, decides for 113, not "Il3, which the ninth edition of Gesenius's dictionary prefers. Be it incidentally remarked that JTIS, "feast," is not to be derived, with the ninth edition, from 1"13, but from n"i3, as the Assyrian kiretu, having the same meaning, teaches. On the other side, the ninth edition derives the word for hole, cave, lirt, ITl, whose stem might be either Tin or Tin, from Tin, although already the Arabic ^ might have led to the correct etymology. The Assyrian hurru, with the same meaning, settles the question, and it is but fair to say that Levy has already recognized the correct stem both for Ti3 and for "I'ln. For the derivation of nS]?, "stomach of the ruminating animals" (Deut. xviii. 3), where Gesenius's dictionary is ' See W. A. I. ii. 31, 48c and compare the Talm. i^ia UJ"i"i, Kiddushin, 76 b. — 65 — ^ uncertain whether to adopt the stem 3p"' or n3p, and of ~^p, "belly" (Num. xxv. 8), for which 21p is proposed as the stem, we need not refer to Assyrian, the- Aramaic ]1ld with its derivatives showing clearly that the stem of both words is nap. The Hebrew name of the bullock, "is, IS, fem. nns, may come from 1"iB or ms. The Assyrian paru ('paru) teaches that the stem is rns, the same stem as that from which ilE, "fruit," is derived. The original meaning of the stem in question is "to spring, to spring up," as the ninth edition rightly supposes, although it takes "ns for this stem. It may be interesting to note here another stem, namely DJS, "to spring," from which both the names for "fruit" and for "hare" are derived; S?3"S, NSS denoting the fruit, as that which springs forth or bursts out, while riD?"!!? sig- nifies the hare as Sjiringinsfeld. The Hebrew DS, which is used in Job viii. 12 and Solomon's Song vi. 11 of the germinating or shooting of plants, may, as is accepted by every one, come from the same root as the Aramaic N^JS, "fruit," found in the book of Daniel. But if this be so, it is impossible any longer to consider 33S as the stem; for Assyrian inhu , "fruit/' St. constr. iwib, as well as the verb in Piel, imnubu, "to bear fruit," and other derivatives like nannabu=pirhu, "a sprout," lead undoubtedly to a stem 3:S, from which, as our original dictionaries expressly inform us, the hare annabu (Arab. >_AJ;I), as the springer, received its name. The etymology even of the most common Hebrew words is changed by the Assyrian. It is still to-day usual to say that the Hebrew preposition nS, "with" (■'HX, "with me"), Delitzsoh, Hebrew and Assyrian. 5 — 66 — corresponds to an original HIIX, so that "'riS*, "with me," meant originally "a meeting with me." The Assyrian itti, "with," destroys this hypothesis, for the Assyrian itti, ittu is clearly the feminine form of itu., "side," pi. itdti. Itti, ,,with me," means simply "at my side." Itu and ittu, "side," are among the commonest Assyrian words. Certainly no one would dare to adduce the Ethiopic enta against this ex- planation. On the other hand, the Assyrian confirms the derivation of ny, "time," as equivalent to nss_ (a derivation first correctly recognized by Fleischer); for in Assyrian by the side of ittu, ettu, „time," we meet the still commoner masculine form enu, inn, which corresponds to the Aramaic T< Ci"?)) but has nothing at all to do with the Arabic ,.va.&.. In cases like nvp or "KX: we admit that without the aid of Assyrian it was difficult to say whether the n and ■a were radical or merely prefixes. In the face of Assyr. tdnitu, WCimtu, "sea," and mcCddu, "to be much {miidu, "multitude"), the radical nature of n and "a can no longer be denied.'' ' With respect to the solution of suoh difficult questions, the constant effort to compare Hebrew with Arabic has again been &bir, which occurs only once (Ps. Iviii. 7) and arises from the evident transposition of t and I, is declared to be the original form, and is explained from the Arabic kxi, "to prick." But a tooth does not prick anything. Could not the Hebrew of itself teach that — 67 — The Hebrew word for "deluge," '513^, is universaly derived from by^. But apart from the fact, that the form would be without analogy, we deny that Heb. ba"! ever means "to flow" like the Arabic Jo,. Heb. b^"' has, like the Assyr. abdlu {wahdlu), invariably the meaning "to lead or^t(^ bring." D*)a"'ib3'' (Is. xxx. 25. xliv. 4) are aqueducts leading the waters to the fields.^ The obscure word bn^N in Dan. VIII. 2. 3. 6 does not disprove this statement. Just as 513)3, "spring" comes from J^Da, b'3^ may be derived from b33. The stem bDD has in Assyrian as well as in Hebrew the meaning "to spoil" or "to destroy"; compare Heb. nbls;, Assyr. nahultu (syn. initu, IV. A.I. \. 31, 38 d), "corpse." The intransitive Hebrew verb bl5 is used of the withering and destruction of the leaves; Assyr. nabdlu, the usual verb for "to destroy," is especially applied to the destruction of nature occasioned by the ravages of storms and incessant rains. Compare nabbaltu, "huricane" and phrases like nablu viax/nin eM nakiri'a, "I caused destruction to rain on my enemies." i The well-known word 'j'nx, "box, ark," is by Muehlau and Volck rightly pronounced to be of doubtful origin. The Assyrian dictionary again settles the question by the simple fact that erenu, the full equivalent of the Hebrew TlliJ, has as synonym eril. The stem is therefore niN, and not ]nx. the stem sin means "to gnaw," so that the worm would be the gnawer, and the teeth the gnawers? The Assyrian confirms this fully, just as in general sound Assyrian etymology is in complete harmony with sound Hebrew etymology. ' Compare the analogous names of Assyrian channels like Bdhelat- Mgalli, "bringer of abundant water" {W. A. I. i. 27 No.,2, 6). 5* — 68 — If we bear in mind the fact that the Assyrian language was fixed in literature many centuries before the oldest known Hebrew texts and thousands of years before Arabic, we cannot be surprised that Assyrian has preserved in not a few cases the oldest forms of stems lost or disguised by the process of decay in the kindred tongues. Thus the true meaning o£ the Semitic word for "bride," Heb. flJSj is obscured in the cognate dialects. According to Hebrew as well as Aramaic the name can only be derived from bbSj "to encircle;" but none of the different explanations which have been put forward, as "the girl provided with a wreath" or "the veiled," has yet met with general approval. The Assyrian puts an end to all doubt. In Assyrian the bride is called kalldtu, with a long a in the second syllable. That shows at once that the stem cannot be b^3. We are further taught that the original meaning of the word is not "bride," but "the bride's chamber," its ideogram denoting "the shut -up room." The stem is clearly the same stem sb3, "to shut up," from which in Hebrew as well as in Assyrian the prison is called xbs rT'3, hit kill. Kalldtu, "bride chamber," was afterwards applied to the bride. Compare the analogous use of the Arabic *C^, "harem," and the German Frauenzv, zimnier. As we have had occasion to remark p. 24, footnote, a number of Targumic and Talmudic words, formerly regarded as being of Aryan origin, are now proved by the cuneiform literature to be good Semitic, namely Babylonian, borrowed chiefly in or since the time of the exile. We stated at the same time that these words cannot be derived according to Hebrew laws of formation, but must be understood as Ba- bylonian words. Now, we are of opinion that the Old Testa- — 69 — ment contains likewise a number of words which are of Babylonian origin, because they have a satisfactory explana- tion only if they are understood as Babylonian words. ^ One instance may suffice. The Hebrew and Aramaic name of the PleiaJs is n^"^3 (Amos v. 8 ; Job. ix. 9, xxxviii. .31). The word is generally combined with the Arabic 1^5^ "to have a large hump" (said of the camel), and explained by the Arabic XiJf, "heap," so that the Pleiads would be called nia'^S as an accumulation of stars. I do not think that any of my readers will find this interpretation of that wonderful group of stars poetical or even true; those seven stars, which are compared by Persian poets with a necklace or a bouquet of jewels, could hardly be compared with a heap of earth. Babylonia is th'e home of astronomy, and most of those names of stars, that occur in the Old Testa- ment, as of Saturn, '\'i'^7), Kaiwdnu, are of Babylonian origin.^ ^ The Aramaic dialects exhibit a considerable number of such Babylonisms. The two verbs -t'C (the Babylonian Shafel from Szebu, at") and XSia (the Babylonian Shafel from a.?4, SS'') rank among the most curious and instructive examples. Observe the 3 of the last- named form, which alone disproves Aramaic origin. As Paul Haupt has first shown, the words for "tribute'' or "tax" that occur in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel — iVa and !Tnia (fTnlBJ — are simply the Babylonian words hiltn, "tax" (literally, "what is brought," from Vni) and mandattw, mcmdcmiu, "tribute" (Ut. "what is given," from "pi — ins); comp. Aram. Kar, "sabbath." These Babylonian or Assy- rian words had been adopted by the nations on whom the tribute was imposed by the monarchs of the Babylonian and Assyrian empire. ^ The same is the case with most of the names used up to the present day for the various constellations, as "the Waggon," "the Lion," "the Twins," which are to be found in the long lists of stars handed down to us through Asurbanipal's libraiy. — 70 — So the word JTaiB is evidently nothing but the Assyrian Mmtu, "family," borrowed by the Hebrews as riU'^S, just as birtu was changed into nT'3. The stem is kamu, "to tie," the family being called Mmtu because its members are con- nected by one common tie. It would even seem that the Hebrew poet himself was still conscious of that original meaning; this is at least suggested by the words of the author of the book of Job (xxxviii. 31): "Dost thou bind the bands of the Pleiads?" In concluding this treatise we venture to offer with due reserve a few suggestions as to the etymology of the He- brew word X'tl, usually translated by "species" or "kind," the etymology of which Wellhausen rightly pronounces a riddle. We formulate our objections to the translation "spe- cies" in the following prop'ositions : 1) In phrases like Gen. vi. 20: "of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every kreeping thing of the earth after his kind''' or Deut. xiv. 13. 14: "the vulture after his kind and every raven after his kind," we feel the want of the plural form.^ 2) The explanation of the word 'i''53 by the Arabic '. L« tjo) il I, "he has divided or opened up the earth by the plough for the purpose of sowing," is far-fetched. — Guided by Assy- rian phrases like "The gods created the living creatures mala baSd "as many as there are" or mala hima naba "as many as have a name," we have long thought that T^ia simply means "number," a meaning which fits admirably whereever the word occurs. If we consider that the use of the word is confined to the so-called Code of the priests. 1 The e in Dri.Jic Gen. i. 21, which is not the Plural-, plained by Evvald in his Grammar, §. 247 d. - 71 — to Ezek. XLvii. 10 and to four passages in Deut. xiv, which modern criticism places in the time of the exile, we may venture to identify the Hebrew 'p'O with the Baby- lonian minu, "number," which is a pure Babylonian form contracted from minyu, as bunu, "child," Mru, "midst" and many others are contracted from bunyu and hiryu. Index of the Hebrew words explained. 2S 16. ^=3 12. as 65. Tiyz 22 f. 70 nr,3s 28 f. n-i'-is 49 f. |3»< 57. rpns 25 f. ~ dsW 5rf. nba^ 58. r-jx 23. b5V'39f. D-IS, iT:"3S. 58 f. T ■"ix 15." ■ b=J 38 f. T,'i'i--b^ix 12. n-it 62. ns 59. "^ Q^nx 33 f. n n7:br!S 36. rbssn 34 ff. ^•js'is. pn'pan 36. c-s 9. iTin 62. ■p'-d-'S 9 f. c-'W 62. cs, njax, nas 59 f. 1'^- 23. I'n 62. i;x 24'f. nSDS^ 33. Y:ir, 62. ■ji^n-iDs 12. in (-,-;n) 64. i'2-.iS 10. 7^"in 62. 11"s'67. •i-"n'l7. 62. P35-1.S 65. b-r. 62. ins 53. ■rn 43 ff. IBS, STiqS 30 f. ' !-;tt;s 9.' i: rrj^-rs 58. ^=V. 15- rs'65 f. r-r::-:-j 20. isa 20. ■0=' J 13. 1 -IS- 25. b=i 67. HElli 1 36. 3 0'''3 83. 1-3 64. rri^a 69 f. s-3, S-2 n^3 20 nfe: 68.' nbs 12. ■'hs 25. nb= 50 f. -■ ;: 40 ff nis 64. 13 is'a 66. bii2^ 67. ^a 13 f. n^-a 69. T-n^ 62. -ipii 49. i-TiT 62. bs-'T: 20. — 73 — Va 70 f. y in 1^ Nfea 20. Dia-'-is 20. niir 62. nbo 63. ,T - a-is 47. ia'55f. T^bn 56. n-iPiirs 11 f. nnsVa 20. ns 66. 115 liizjpi'io 16. B bixir 20, n«;a 63. bira 54 f. nns 12 f. ■iat; 36 f. m'sfcna 66. ns!ipa 24. oai 46. IB 65'. aaa 16. 3 T1& 45. n^ui 47 f. K33 52. nns 62. ■'•^Td 48. nbas 67. 2 ntviw 35. bm'5 f. IKS 46 f. njsj 9. bn? 48 f. Qi'na 29. -|0i; 15. P n -1^3 52 t ninn 66. ba"i3 12. naj?, nap 64 f. sbin' 66 f. ■|ii'pip 24. nsn 30. -iSi? 53 f. itia-in bft 16 f. OiHp 13. -i nan 16. qrb 62. DS-) 6 f. )tt-iP\_ 12. ninb 36. npiijan 13. ir*? 16. Dit52'i 23. Index of the Aramaic words explained. xax (xassji) 65. Kfesiax^ 24. nnijaN 33. li-i^x' 24. xsnbx 24. si-ix 24. ■iba 69. KQ^ 24. Nnsb 24. Na"i'c, K5ai& 24. K^l;; 33. b'nii 50. at-iia 69. XSiB 69. oain 50. ..^THE ZARNCKE LIBRARY "~^ COLLECTED BY ERIEDRICH ZARNCKE THE GIFT OF 1893 A.5*Jj.5:'h ///^aa.