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[Facts] Re: Hebrew script for possible Mary-related words?
in reply to a message by Noa
First, I should warn you that the script you typed appeared as gobbledygook Latin characters on my Unicode-encoded screen until I switched to Hebrew (Windows-1255) character encoding.Re: #3, here's the quote (bolding mine):
Gesenius was the first to consider miryam as a compound of the noun meri and the pronominal suffix am; this word actually occurs in II Esd., ix, 17, meaning "their rebellion". But such an expression is not a suitable name for a young girl. Gesenius himself abandoned this explanation, but it was adopted by some of his followers, e.g. by J. Grimm (Das Leben Jesu; sec. edit., I, 414-431, Regensburg, 1890) and Schanz (Comment. uber d. Ev. d. hl. Matthäus, p. 78, Freiburg, 1879)."Pronominal" means "of, pertaining to, resembling, or functioning as of a pronoun". So in the phrase meri am, the pronominal word am turns meri "rebellion" into the phrase "their rebellion"; am in this case is the word "their", but maybe it could function as other pronouns too (like "I", "you", "him"/"her", "my", "who", "each other", etc.)?EDIT: I just remembered that I've read elsewhere that -am is a feminine diminutive in Hebrew (perhaps akin to Latin -illa or -ina or Italian -etta or -ella?). I've got no sources on hand for that, but does that ring a bell?Re: #6, no I meant marar, not marir (again, bolding mine):
Other meanings assigned to miryam viewed as a simple word are: bitter one, great sorrow (from marar or marah; cf. Simonis, Onomasticum Veteris Testamenti, Halae Magdeburgicae, 1741, p. 360; Onom. Novi Test., ibid., 1762, p. 106)...It could be the essay's mistake, I don't know.Thank you for your help!

Miranda

This message was edited 9/20/2007, 2:41 PM

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Oh, I get it.Yes, "am" (the letter mem) turns a word into "their" [word]. It doesn't have a space, so it'd be mariam (îøéí). That would be pronounced meh-ree-AHM, not like Miryam. Because of that, and because that sort of expression doesn't generally fit in with normal naming practises, I doubt this explanation.And adding "-am" functions only as "their" (the male their - that is, plural, with at least one male) - the other pronouns each have their own form (if you want, I'll list them).And as for marar: I don't know the form, so either it was used only in the Bible or it doesn't exist. But I think it would be îÈøÈø if it exists.How do you make Hebrew script not appear as gobbledygook?Noa
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Ah, thank you very much! :-DBut now you've made me curious about the other pronouns! If it isn't too much trouble, I would like to see them. No biggie if you can't do it right away or anything. :-)As for (hopefully) viewing non-gobbledygook Hebrew, at least in Firefox 2.0.0.6:
1. Go to View
2. Go to Character Encoding
3. Go to More Encodings
4. Go to Middle Eastern
5. Select the Hebrew encoding that works for you--in my case that was Hebrew (Windows-1255)As for typing Hebrew so it doesn't turn gobbledygook in the first place, I don't know. I just cut-pasted words from various sources on the web, and the Hebrew remained intact that way. Sorry!
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All right - the other pronouns. (Sorry for the wait; I went to bed.)
All of these suffixes go on a singular male noun - my book, not my books - and I'm adding them onto the word ëìá (celev - dog) because I have no idea how to get a nikkud under an X:My: "-i" (ëÌÇìÀáÌÄé) calbi
Our: "-enu" (ëÌÇìÀáÌÅðåÌ) calbenu
Your:
Singular male: "-cha" (ëÌÇìÀáÌÀêÈ) calbecha
Singular female: "-ech" (ëÌÇìÀáÌÅêÀ ) calbech
Plural male (group with at least one male in it): "-chem" (ëÌÇìÀáÌÀëÆí) calbechem
Plural female (group made entirely of females): "-chen" (ëÌÇìÀáÌÀëÆï) calbechen
His: "-o" (ëÌÇìÀáÌåÉ) calbo
Her: "-ah" (ëÌÇìÀáÌÈäÌ) calbah (the dot in the heh is important - otherwise it would just mean female dog)
Their:
Male: "-am" (ëÌÇìÀáÌÈí) calbam
Female: "-an" (ëÌÇìÀáÌÈï) calbanFor female subjects ending in a ä, the heh turns into a ú and then you add the suffixes above. Her dog = ëÌÇìÀáÌÈúÈäÌWhen the subject is plural, it changes a little too.It looks terribly complicated, doesn't it? It isn't really - all of these words are just a contraction of all the forms of the word shel (belonging to) - sheli (mine), shelo (his), shelah (hers), shelahem (theirs), etc. - with the subjects they refer to. haCelev sheli -> calbi.And yes, everything in Hebrew has a gender. No such word as IT.Noa If you have any more questions, ask.

This message was edited 9/25/2007, 12:51 PM

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Wow, that's cool! Again, thanks so much! :-Da
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