On Two Anthroponyms from the Achaemenid Period

Abstract

In the first section I analyse anthroponyms which are written Šby, Š(w)by and Šbᵓ in Hebrew and Aramaic. In the second section I argue that Ḥnnh/Ḥnwnh on Yhwd-impressions refers to a male rather than a female functionary (or functionaries).

Keywords:

• Hebrew epigraphy
• Ammonite
• female functionaries

Notes

1 And see also a three-tier genealogy on a seal bought in Beirut in 1908 which is reported to have been found near Usha (son of ᵓlzkr, grandson of Yhwḥyl) (see Avigad and Sass 1997: 71 No. 63; and see 533, where at least two additional unprovenanced seals bearing the same name are listed. Since they were purchased after 1967, their authenticity is doubtful.

2 Porten and Yardeni 1999, D8.12, 5.

3 See Geers 1910‒1911: 308‒309, cf. Rabin 1976 who does not mention Geers. The interpretation of the Levite’s name as an abbreviated form originating from Šbnyhw (Noth 1928: 257b) is unacceptable.

4 Cf. Zadok 1988: 106.

5 Listed in Negev 1991: 61, no. 1093, who compared Arabic sabiy “captive” (a further alternative occurs as common name in Safaitic and just once in Thamudic, Harding 1971: 310) and in Stark 1971: 59, 113b, where only the Arabic interpretation (“youth”) is considered. Safaitic Šb and Šby (both common) are irrelevant as they derive from a cognate of Arabic šabb “youth” (see Harding 1971: 337, 340, where the two occurrences of Tham. Šb are also listed).

6 Cf. Stamm 1980: 70.

7 Stark 1971: 50a referring to two males and one female, see 113a.

8 See Herr 1992: 192‒ 193 and cf. Lipschits 2004: 40‒41.

9 For the Safaitic names, see Harding 1971: 449, 460 (cf. CA Ġayyān, Caskel 1965: 271a).

10 The extremely restricted sample of early Yhwd-impressions display both defective and plene spellings, viz. Yšb vs <wryw and <ḥyb (< ḥy<b which results in a sandhi-like form). For references see the nearly exhaustive documentation in Lipschits and Vanderhooft 2011: 83–111, 206–208. The interchange Yhwd/Yhd is on the face of it part of the same mixture of plene and defective spellings, but it must be regarded as a special case: paradoxically the early types are always spelled Yhwd while the later ones display Yhd. In view of the latest spellings, viz. the types of Yh, i.e., abbreviated for Yh(w)d, it is arguable that the defective form Yhd also served as a convenient ‘shorthand’ form (for references peruse Lipschits and Vanderhooft 2011).

11 See Zadok 1978: 118, 151 and Hayajneh 1998:125 respectively.

12 See Zadok 1987:267 and cf. Weisberg, NB Texts, 72, 3, 14 respectively.

13 For the NA name see A.M. Bagg, PNA 2:457. The SB name is part of the compound toponym Bīt-Ha-nu-ni-ia referring to a locale in the region of Urartu (presumably near its southern border, see Zadok 1985: 90).