[B-Greek] shin-samex Greek influence
bitan buth
ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il
Thu Sep 29 16:48:36 EDT 2005
Shalom Ken,
EGRAPSAS
> Hi Randall,
I would like to know why you would say the shin/samex confusion is a *clear*
grecism, or a grecism at all. Do we not see examples of this in the DSS
(e.g., 1QS vii,3, see Qimron HDSS), in parallel biblical texts (if memory
serves correctly; Sperber would probably point these out), and of course in
the Shibbolet story. Are these all grecisms, or am I misunderstanding
something?
Ken Penner, Ph.D. (cand.), McMaster University>
Yes, the Qumran example yekaHes//yekaHesh would be an example of
shin//samex. Nice. And if so, I would say 'Greek'. On the other hand, one
may also read this as yix`as 'will be angry'. This would be an interchange
of Het/`ayin. 'Clear' is only 'clear' in the absence of credible
alternatives. A judgement call. (I don't remember what Qimron says of this.
See Licht, megillot ha-sraxim.)
I was thinking of examples like
Bar Kosiba Aramaic letter 1, line one: where he (or a scribe?) writes
SLAM for ShLAM 'peace, greetings'. Quite amazing.
I would say yes to Greek influence in this example, too. Totally unexpected,
of course, from Bar Kosiba. Kutscher was of such an opinion of Greek
influence on this Aramaic letter. See his articles "ha-igrot ha-aramiot shel
bar kosiba" and the language summary in the follow up article ha-igrot
ha-`ivriyot shel bar kosiba" Leshonenu 1961-62(?).
One might even assume that some of the wealthy class, maybe assuming a
certain worldliness, included some who aspired to speak Hebrew and Aramaic
with a 'Greek accent'.
Incidently, today there are children who grow up in families where the
parents speak a beautiful Hebrew with `ayin and Het all correctly in place,
smooth and clear, but their children choose to speak with Khaf in place of
Het and drop `ayin to a glottalstop. As children in that environment, they
can speak correctly when they want to, they just don't want to. The majority
dialect in Israel doesn't have Het and they want to speak that way even
while listening to Eyal Golan sing with velvet smooth Het and `ayin.
We demand that our teachers in our summer Biblical Hebrew ulpan all speak
with Het and `ayin, but students can do what they want and a majority seem
to go the way of "Khaf". Of course, even students who decide on 'khaf'
appreciate listening to Het. But why not learn Het and `ayin?
This shin//samex above, of course, is different from the common interchange
of sin-smalit with samex, common in Mishnaic Hebrew. Ma `asiti "what'd I
do?"
I would add that it should not be joined to a phenomenon in a story from the
times of the judges, a millennium earlier. A lot of water went under the
bridge during that millennium, including the merging of the interdentals,
history of samex, the tsade-qof-`ayin development, KTL. So no, the
shibboleth story shouldn't even be compared and is not a grecism.
Randall Buth, PhD
Biblical Language Center
www.biblicalulpan.org
c/o margbuth at gmail.com
also, Director, Biblical Studies in Israel
under Rothberg International School,
Hebrew University
ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il
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