Although he's writing in the Middle Ages, I've often found that Rabbi Maimonides (Rambam) has many valuable things to say about Hebrew, the Torah and Tanakh:
"Some years ago a learned man asked me a question of great importance; the problem and the solution which we gave in our reply deserve the closest attention. Before, however, entering upon this problem and its solution I must premise that every Hebrew knows that the term Elohim is a homonym, and denotes God, angels, judges, and the rulers of countries, and that Onkelos the proselyte explained it in the true and correct manner by taking Elohim in the sentence, 'and ye shall be like Elohim' (Gen. iii. 5) in the last-mentioned meaning, and rendering the sentence 'and ye shall be like princes.' Having pointed out the homonymity of the term "Elohim" we return to the question under consideration" (Guide for the Perplexed I.2).
Friedländer tr. [1904], http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/gfp/gfp012.htm
5 comments:
Duncan,
Admittedly, while I've read and taught Maimonides' "Guide," I have not researched his claim regarding what "every Hebrew knows" or knew in his time. However, his statement appears to be plausible in light of what we read in other sources. Elohim grammatically is a noun, and in my opinion, is not simply qualitative. It seems to be used for the purpose of denoting God, humans or angels. While I'm willing to prescind from the angel debate, that the word is sometimes applied to humans (judges foremost) is perhaps less debatable.
Hebrew etymology is also tough. How we define elohim and related terms becomes contentious and highly problematic. We are often left with approximations of how elohim/el should be defined.
When I speak about the complexities of defining elohim, here is what I have in mind. See TDOT, p. 272ff:
https://books.google.com/books?id=znB4gOMlb3AC&pg=PA272&dq=meaning+of+elohim&hl=en&sa=X&ei=X6eZVL6gEsGcgwTP04H4BA&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=meaning%20of%20elohim&f=false
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