1,721,058 research outputs found
Old Testament Prototypes for the Hermetic Trishagion in Poimandres 31 – and Support for an Old Conjecture
No full textThe article discusses influences from the Book of Isaiah upon the concluding hymn of Poimandres (Corpus Hermeticum I) and uses religio-historical information gleaned from this comparison as a basis for defending a reconstruction of this text based on Papyrus Berolinensis 9794. Various epithets and descriptions of the divine occurring in the hymn are argued to be dependent upon the titulature of YHWH in Isa 6:3; specific differences between the Poimandres text and the presumed background text are put in a religio-historical perspective as being indicative of the specific theological position of the author of the Hermetist author
Perfect or Imperfect Learning : Teaching the "Tenses" of Biblical Hebrew
No full textThe article discusses the pedagogical challenges inherent in teaching the “tenses” of Biblical Hebrew. How does one cope with explaining the intricacies and scholarly uncertainties of this question to beginners – and to what level is it advisable to do so? The author also examines the possible benefits of imparting a deeper understanding of these issues beyond the domain of the classroom
Opuscula Ugaritico-Accadico-Hebraica : Relative Particles, pa'am, and Amraphel
Full text linkThe article deals with two questions concerning the relationship between Hebrew, Akkadian, and Ugaritic: the background of the relative particle šeC-/šaC- and the relationship between Hebrew pa'am ("time, foot") and Ugaritic pamt ("time") and p'n ("foot, leg"). In the former case, a model of morphological conflation is argued. In the latter, Northwest Semitic dialectology is discussed, and the origin of the name Amraphel is used as a comparandum and given a partially new explanation involving borrowing from an international scribal koine, which shows difficulty in pronouncing the voiced pharyngeal.</p
Don't Push This Button : Phoenician Sarcophagi, Atomic Priesthoods and Nuclear Waste
No full textThe article discusses the impact of historical sciences, classical philology and religious studies on the field of “Nuclear Semiotics”, the scholarly discussion concerning communicating information about nuclear waste disposal into the far future. The author uses examples such as a Phoenician funerary inscription, the Antikythera Mechanism, ancient water power, and the reconstruction of mythology to shed light on problems inherent in such communication, especially in schemes such as Thomas Sebeok’s idea of a pseudo-religious “Atomic Priesthood” that would perpetuate the tradition about stored nuclear waste. The article also aims at pointing out some ways in which the “nuclear waste question” can make historians view their own field in new ways
Literary Grammar : The Grammaticalization of the Hebrew Wayyiqṭol in Typological Comparison with the Classical Japanese Kakari-Musubi, the Old Irish Dependent Conjugation, and the Tocharian Gendered 1st Person Singular Pronoun
No full textIn this article, the grammaticalization and narrative use of the Hebrew Wayyiqṭol form is discussed in typological comparison with three phenomena from non-Semitic (and, indeed, non-Afro-Asiatic) languages: the so-called Kakari-musubi of Classical Japanese, the dependent conjugation of Old Irish, and the masculine/feminine distinction of the first person singular pronoun of East Tocharian. These comparisons are used to illustrate relations between particles and forms in grammaticalization, the rise of particleinduced morphological variation, and the social role of grammaticalization phenomena, thus providing new clues for the understanding of the rise of the Wayyiqṭol as a grammaticalized form going back to the social situation of telling epic, narrative stories.</p
The Borrowings Kṣuta-/kṣut- (“Inimical”) and Vidumāla- (“Retrograde”) in Sanskrit Astrological Texts and the Representation of Semitic ʿayn in Similar Loans
No full textThis short article deals with the etymologies of two Perso-Arabic loans that function as technical terms in Tājika (Indian astrology imported from the Perso-Arabic cultural area), both appearing in the works of the 13th century CE astrological author Samarasiṃha. The terms are kṣuta-/kṣut- (“Inimical”) and vidumāla- (“Retrograde”) - the meanings of both have been clear for some time, but the article elucidates their exact etymologies, and uses them to argue a rather complex mode of scientific/scholarly transmission, possibly involving as many as four languages: Arabic, Persian, Old Gujarati (or other northern Indo-Aryan vernaculars of the time), and finally Sanskrit. Finally, the article discusses the renderings of the voiced pharyngeal fricative in loans of this type in the light of early Modern Persian orthography and phonology
Old Testament Prototypes for the Hermetic Trishagion in Poimandres 31 – and Support for an Old Conjecture [Elektronisk resurs]
No full textThe article discusses influences from the Book of Isaiah upon the concluding hymn of Poimandres (Corpus Hermeticum I) and uses religio-historical information gleaned from this comparison as a basis for defending a reconstruction of this text based on Papyrus Berolinensis 9794. Various epithets and descriptions of the divine occurring in the hymn are argued to be dependent upon the titulature of YHWH in Isa 6:3; specific differences between the Poimandres text and the presumed background text are put in a religio-historical perspective as being indicative of the specific theological position of the author of the Hermetist author
Perfect or Imperfect Learning : Teaching the "Tenses" of Biblical Hebrew [Elektronisk resurs]
No full textThe article discusses the pedagogical challenges inherent in teaching the “tenses” of Biblical Hebrew. How does one cope with explaining the intricacies and scholarly uncertainties of this question to beginners – and to what level is it advisable to do so? The author also examines the possible benefits of imparting a deeper understanding of these issues beyond the domain of the classroom
Drought, death and the sun in Ugarit and ancient Israel : A philological and comparative study
Full text linkThe sun and its heat are two of the most universal symbols known to humanity, yet their supposed meanings vary greatly. The sun can be thought of as a giver of life, but its hot and scorching rays can also be associated with drought and the powers of destruction. The present study concerns the latter view of the sun and related ideas as reflected in the Hebrew Bible and the cuneiform alphabetic texts from Ugarit. The Ugaritic texts (especially the so-called Baal Cycle) appear to portray the sun goddess, Shapshu, as the sender of terrible drought; she manifests the temporary rule of the god of death, Mot, through her burning rays. The author discusses the philology of these passages in detail and then attempts to follow the motif of solar drought and its connections with the netherworld into the literature of ancient Israel, noting the transformations of the motif when it is influenced by the rising prominence of YHWH. The study traces specific pieces of terminology that appear to involve references to the ancient motifs of drought, death and the sun, using both comparative linguistic and religio-historical analyses. Biblical texts such as 1 Kings 17-18, Jeremiah 14, Hosea 13, Joel 1 and Malachi 3, as well as various passages from the Psalms and Job, come into focus in the study of the Israelite reception of ideas and terminology concerning the land of the dead, the heat of the sun and the power of drought. The basic questions underlying the study are the following: 1) How do the concepts of drought, death and the sun relate to each other in the Ugaritic religious literature; how are these concepts used as metaphors to express basic tenets of Ugaritic myth and theology? 2) How are these concepts and their uses reflected in the literature and religion of Ancient Israel? How can the identification of these ancient reminiscences of a shared Northwest Semitic religious background help shed light on the interpretation of various difficult passages in the biblical text and on the relationship between Old Testament theology and that of the surrounding Northwest Semitic cultures? This is a revised edition of the 2012 dissertation version of the book
Drought, Death and the Sun in Ugarit and Ancient Israel : A Philological and Comparative Study
No full textThe sun and its heat are two of the most universal symbols known to humanity, yet their supposed meanings vary greatly. The sun can be thought of as a giver of life, but its hot and scorching rays can also be associated with drought and the powers of destruction. The present study concerns the latter view of the sun and related ideas as reflected in the Hebrew Bible and the cuneiform alphabetic texts from Ugarit. The Ugaritic texts (especially the so-called Baal Cycle) appear to portray the sun goddess, Shapshu, as the sender of terrible drought; she manifests the temporary rule of the god of death, Mot, through her burning rays. The author discusses the philology of these passages in detail and then attempts to follow the motif of solar drought and its connections with the netherworld into the literature of ancient Israel, noting the transformations of the motif when it is influenced by the rising prominence of YHWH. The study traces specific pieces of terminology that appear to involve references to the ancient motifs of drought, death and the sun, using both comparative linguistic and religio-historical analyses. Biblical texts such as 1 Kings 17-18, Jeremiah 14, Hosea 13, Joel 1 and Malachi 3, as well as various passages from the Psalms and Job, come into focus in the study of the Israelite reception of ideas and terminology concerning the land of the dead, the heat of the sun and the power of drought. The basic questions underlying the study are the following: 1) How do the concepts of drought, death and the sun relate to each other in the Ugaritic religious literature; how are these concepts used as metaphors to express basic tenets of Ugaritic myth and theology? 2) How are these concepts and their uses reflected in the literature and religion of Ancient Israel? How can the identification of these ancient reminiscences of a shared Northwest Semitic religious background help shed light on the interpretation of various difficult passages in the biblical text and on the relationship between Old Testament theology and that of the surrounding Northwest Semitic cultures
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