tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19505042.post2913914199054573908..comments2024-01-29T06:02:39.583-08:00Comments on Suzanne's Bookshelf: Language and the gender of GodSuzanne McCarthyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07033350578895908993noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19505042.post-56688439878316472572009-08-25T14:27:20.501-07:002009-08-25T14:27:20.501-07:00Thank you, Peter. I am happy to report that I did ...Thank you, Peter. I am happy to report that I did not get that information from David Stein's article.<br /><br />I can see that this has been much debated in the past but perhaps the feminine has now been laid to rest. <br /><br />I recommend Stein's article for his argument that Elohim is not envisioned with social gender in the scripture.Suzanne McCarthyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07033350578895908993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19505042.post-13293440228094659102009-08-25T08:04:47.675-07:002009-08-25T08:04:47.675-07:00important post!
And in Greek,
ὁ θεός/ἡ θεό...important post!<br /><br /><i>And in Greek,<br /><br /> ὁ θεός/ἡ θεός (also ἡ θεά))<br /><br />"god and ""goddess" are the same word with a different article, most of the time.</i><br /><br />Here's some evidence from Homer's <i>Illiad</i> (530-33), with Samuel Butler's and then Richmond Lattimore's translations following (and my line breaks with / and my bold font):<br /><br />ὃ δὲ Κύπριν ἐπῴχετο νηλέϊ χαλκῷ / γινώσκων ὅτ' ἄναλκις ἔην <b>θεός</b>, οὐδὲ <b>θεάων</b> / τάων αἵ τ' ἀνδρῶν πόλεμον κάτα κοιρανέουσιν, / οὔτ' ἄρ' Ἀθηναίη οὔτε πτολίπορθος Ἐνυώ. <br /><br />He the while had gone in pursuit of Cypris with his pitiless bronze, / discerning that she was a weakling <b>goddess</b>, and not one of those that [<b>???</b>] / lord it in the battle of warriors, / --no Athene she, nor Enyo, sacker of cities.<br /><br />and he swung the pitiless bronze at the lady of Kypros, / knowing her for <b>a god</b> without warcraft, not of those who, <b>goddesses</b>, / range in order the ranks of men in the fighting, / not Athene and not Enyo, sacker of cities.<br /><br /><b>θεός</b> = <b>θεάων</b> <br />=<br /><b>goddess</b> = [<b>???</b>]<br />=<br /><b>a god</b> = <b>goddesses</b><br /><br />In the Greek, "she" (i.e., "the lady") is a "god" - though she's different from the other "gods" who are "goddesses" because she's ἄν-αλκις (i.e. "without warcraft" or "a weakling" or without strength). The difference is not marked here in gender but in might or in pacifism.J. K. Gaylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07600312868663460988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19505042.post-16201026688920744092009-08-25T08:02:05.606-07:002009-08-25T08:02:05.606-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.J. K. Gaylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07600312868663460988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19505042.post-84164219948628151612009-08-25T04:50:14.951-07:002009-08-25T04:50:14.951-07:00Hebrew eloah is not grammatically feminine. Here -...Hebrew <i>eloah</i> is not grammatically feminine. Here <i>-ah</i> is not the feminine suffix, which has a silent <i>h</i>, but a masculine noun with a pronounced <i>h</i>, indicated in Hebrew script by a dot known as <i>mappiq</i>. But this grammatical gender is not really significant.<br /><br />In 1 Kings 11:5,23 it is the (masculine) plural <i>elohim</i> which is used of the goddess Ashtoreth.Peter Kirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13395635409427347613noreply@blogger.com