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ArchivesRe: abrahamic names
in reply to a message by Kal-Ev
A lot of questions.
In Hebrew (and I think in Semitic languages in general), you don't have to worry much about vowels. Vowels change, vowels come and go – it's the consonants that count. They are pretty stable and only they were written out for a long time.
So names ending in -iel, -ael or -uel should not be looked upon as opposed to each other in some way.
-IEL: The I may have a meaning, or it may not. It can indicate the possessive form 1st person singular "my", or it can ba a vowel that fills in for phonetic reasons. So GABRIEL can translate either "God is my hero / God has proven strong in my favour" or else "God is strong / has proven strong". Same with DANIEL: "God has vindivated me" or "God vindicates". With NATANIEL the I seems to be inserted for phonetical reasons to smoothen the pronounciation.
-AEL: The A can be due to different grammatical issues. Take RAPHAEL: "God has healed"; here the A is the last vowel in the "ordinary form" (pa'al or qal) 3. ps. sg.: rafa. Or MICHAEL "Who is like God?"; here I am not sure. I assume that the A is part of the definite article ha (in this case the h is swallowed by the preposition ke: ke + ha = ka)
-UEL: The origin of SAMUEL is debated. Traditionally it is associated with the verb shama', listen; however one must ask, where the final Ayin has disappeared to. Then it may translate "shem is god"; but there seems to be little evidence for a deity called shem. Another proposal is "descendant of El" (cf. 1Sam 24, 22). In neither case I can see any grammatical reason for the U, so again I assume phonetical reasons. This is not the case with IMMANUEL, "God with us". The preposition IM, with, becomes IMMANU with the 1st person pl. ending -ANU, so this is the reason for the U. There are quite a few names in the Bible ending in -UEL, but apart from IMMANUEL I can't see any grammatical reasons for this.
Maybe someone who knows Hebrew better than I can say more about these things.
In Hebrew (and I think in Semitic languages in general), you don't have to worry much about vowels. Vowels change, vowels come and go – it's the consonants that count. They are pretty stable and only they were written out for a long time.
So names ending in -iel, -ael or -uel should not be looked upon as opposed to each other in some way.
-IEL: The I may have a meaning, or it may not. It can indicate the possessive form 1st person singular "my", or it can ba a vowel that fills in for phonetic reasons. So GABRIEL can translate either "God is my hero / God has proven strong in my favour" or else "God is strong / has proven strong". Same with DANIEL: "God has vindivated me" or "God vindicates". With NATANIEL the I seems to be inserted for phonetical reasons to smoothen the pronounciation.
-AEL: The A can be due to different grammatical issues. Take RAPHAEL: "God has healed"; here the A is the last vowel in the "ordinary form" (pa'al or qal) 3. ps. sg.: rafa. Or MICHAEL "Who is like God?"; here I am not sure. I assume that the A is part of the definite article ha (in this case the h is swallowed by the preposition ke: ke + ha = ka)
-UEL: The origin of SAMUEL is debated. Traditionally it is associated with the verb shama', listen; however one must ask, where the final Ayin has disappeared to. Then it may translate "shem is god"; but there seems to be little evidence for a deity called shem. Another proposal is "descendant of El" (cf. 1Sam 24, 22). In neither case I can see any grammatical reason for the U, so again I assume phonetical reasons. This is not the case with IMMANUEL, "God with us". The preposition IM, with, becomes IMMANU with the 1st person pl. ending -ANU, so this is the reason for the U. There are quite a few names in the Bible ending in -UEL, but apart from IMMANUEL I can't see any grammatical reasons for this.
Maybe someone who knows Hebrew better than I can say more about these things.
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