On Lips and Tongues in Ancient Hebrew

This article traces the semantic development of the words śāp̄ah ‘lip’ and lāšon ‘tongue’ through Biblical, Late Biblical, Qumran, and Mishnaic Hebrew. Two semantic changes occupy the focus of this analysis: First, by the time of Mishnaic Hebrew, śāp̄ah had lost its meanings related to the lip’s ass...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Vetus Testamentum
Main Author: Landman, Yael (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2016
In: Vetus Testamentum
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Old Testament / Dead Sea scrolls, Qumran Scrolls / Mishnah / Hebrew language / Noun / śafah / lashon / Semantics
RelBib Classification:BH Judaism
HB Old Testament
HD Early Judaism
Further subjects:B Ancient Hebrew semantics lip tongue
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:This article traces the semantic development of the words śāp̄ah ‘lip’ and lāšon ‘tongue’ through Biblical, Late Biblical, Qumran, and Mishnaic Hebrew. Two semantic changes occupy the focus of this analysis: First, by the time of Mishnaic Hebrew, śāp̄ah had lost its meanings related to the lip’s association with talking, so that it should not be translated ‘speech’ in ambiguous contexts. Second, the semantic widening of lāšon to include the meaning ‘speech’ began to take place in Biblical Hebrew in the context of words from the realm of deceit.
ISSN:1568-5330
Contains:In: Vetus Testamentum
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15685330-12301224