02_Biblica_1_B_Pinker_Layout 1 30/01/13 13:15 Pagina 514 02_B 514 ARON PINKER It is possible to obtain a meaning that describes the speed of a process, or magnitude of an event, if instead of hlht the text is assumed to have been hhlt, a simple case of scribal error of metathesis 58. The word hhflft@;, kindred to its homophone h)flft@;, is derived from the root hhl, “languish, faint,” and is attested in Gen 47,13 in the imperfect, feminine singular (apocope), h@lft@" 59. h)lt occurs in 4,2 and )lt in 4,5; so it is possible that the hom- ophone hhlt was written because of the h/) confusion. This con- fusion is attested in the Tanach and Qumran scrolls 60. In Jerusalem Aramaic, the corresponding roots yhl and )hl mean “to be tired” (JASTROW, 693b) 61. Though h@lft@" is a hapax legomenon its meaning cannot be doubted, because of its Aramaic cognates, occurrence in Ben Sira, and the seeming similarity between hhl and h)l. In- deed, it is possible that a scribe coming across the word hhlt deemed it an error, because he could not recall the existence of the rare root hhl in the Bible, and deliberately changed it to the more familiar hlht. Delitzsch seems to have rightly conjectured: “The form points to a Lamedh-He verb” 62. GRABBE, Comparative, 42. Grabbe writes: “The form [hlht] could 58 easily come from a root *hly. Finding such a root, though, is rather difficult. … One suspects a case of metathesis. This suspicion becomes further con- firmed when a fairly thorough check fails to turn up any other example of a root *hly in Semitic”. The suggested approach circumvents these difficulties. The root lhh is mentioned in L. KOEHLER – W. BAUMGARTNER (eds.), A 59 Bilingual Dictionary of the Hebrew and Aramaic Old Testament (Leiden 1998) 474, col. B. KB adds the form hitpalp (hl" hltm) in Ben Sira. In both occurrences a@ ; a ; i of h@al" hltmi in Ben Sira (Sir 35,14 and 15) it is the opposite of #$r" wd, which re- ;a; & flects active pursuance. Thus, “languish, faint” for hhl would also well fit the texts in Ben Sira. Cf. A.Sh. ARTOM, )rFysi-Nb@e (Tel Aviv 1967) 117-118. This confusion is attested, for instance, in Job 8,21 hlmy for )lmy; 60 hp and )p in Job 38,11; q)n (Ez 30,24) but qhn (Job 6,5); Qoh 8,1 )n#y for hn#y; 2 Kgs 25,29; Lam 4,1; Ruth 1,20 )rm for hrm; 1 Kgs 22,25 and 2 Kgs 7,12 hbxhl but )bxhl in 2 Chr 18,24; Isa 44,8 whrt for w)rt; Jer 50,29 )l (Ketib) but hl (Qere); Ez 14,4 hb (K) but )b (Q); 2 Chr 20,35 rbxt) for rbxth; Ez 14,3 #rd)h for #rdhh; Jer 25,3 Myk#) for Myk#h; Gen 41,43 Krb) for Krbh; Ps 76,6 wllwt#) for wllwt#h; Isa 63,3 ytl)g) for ytl)gh; etc. Targum (Lagarde’s edition) renders in Isa 65,23 w(gyy (“they will tire”) 61 by Nw@hl;ye, and in Isa 42,4 hhky (“he will dim, faint”) by yh" l;ya. Jerusalem Targum has Nyyihjla in Deut 25,18 for Py( (“tired”). See also Targum (La- garde’s edition) on Mal 2,17. DELITZSCH, Biblical, 94. 62 © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati