Friday, August 23, 2024

Nicholas Wyatt on yam sûf

  

On the Hebrew expression yam sûf see Montgomery 1938, Snaith 1965; Batto 1983, Wyatt, 1990a, 71-1; id. 1996b, 84-9; id. 2001c. The etymology based on Hebrew sûf 'come to an end', is preferable to the common explanation based on Egyptian twfy, 'reed' (thus 'Sea of Reeds', still espoused by HALOT ii 747). Cf. the Jewish divine title 'En Sof, 'the One without End'. The 'Red Sea' interpretation comes from the Greek Bible (ερυθρα θαλασσα). The following instances are good examples of the evidently cosmological, rather than merely geographical, sense of the term. (Nicholas Wyatt, Space and Time in the Religious Life of the Near East [Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001], 86)

 

 

 

To Support this Blog:

 

Paypal

Venmo

Amazon Wishlist