LEH - Lexicon of the LXX
Ben Crick
ben.crick at argonet.co.uk
Fri Nov 26 17:34:26 EST 1999
On Fri 26 Nov 1999 (12:47:44), c.s.bartholomew at worldnet.att.net wrote:
> In my last post I raised the question, what words were available to the
> translator of this Psalm to render GLGL as "whirlwind?"
ISTM that Joshua 5:9 may provide a definition for GiL:GaL.
HaYYoWM GaLLoWTiY 'eT-CeR:PaT MiTs:RaYiM Me`a:LeYKeM
EN THi SHMERON hHMERAi AFEILON TON ONEIDISMON AIGUPTOU AF' hUMWN
This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you.
WaYYiQ:Ra' $eM HaMMaQoWM HaHuW' GiL:GaL `aD HaYYoWM HaZZeH.
KAI EKALESE TO ONOMA TOU TOPOU EKEINOU GALGALA. [---]
Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day.
Here the pun is on GaLLoWTiY (Qal perfect of GaLaL), I have rolled away,
and GiL:GaL, a noun for a Wheel, or something that spins and lifts something
away (a 'Twister'?), from the Pilpel (intensive) of the same root GaLaL.
When Elijah was taken up in to heaven by a whirlwind SUSSEISMWi BaS:`aRaH,
notice that it was from that same place, *Gilgal* (4 Kings 2:1,11 LXX).
Was this another local 'twister'?
So coming back to Psalm 77:18 [19 MT; 76:18 LXX]: the MT has GiL:GaL, which
the LXX translates as TROCOS (EN TWi TROCWi). The KJV paraphrases 'in the
heaven'; but the RSV and NIV etc correctly render 'in the whirlwind'.
Jerome in his Vulgate gives us /vox tonitrui *in rota*, etc./, preserving
the "circular storm" idea inherent in GiL:GaL.
Thanks for an interesting question.
ERRWSQE
Ben
--
Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
<ben.crick at argonet.co.uk>
232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
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