a small Hebrew bit (with a side of theology)

[cellio]

Sunday night at one point Johan asked me about the fact that one of the names of God in the torah is a plural form. We were talking about creation and I said that the verb is singular (bara), but that didn't provide a fully-satisfactory answer.

Since then, though, I had a small revelation while studying Hebrew: there are other words that appear plural but aren't really, like mayim (water). More specifically, the ones I've encountered so far are collective nouns.

I don't know yet if that's a general rule, nor if every use of that name of God takes a singular verb, but the idea of a collective God, representing all of the various divine aspects bundled up together, is kind of interesting.

Comments

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

A tad Christian triune, though. :-)

[madfilkentist]

I don't have a Bible handy, but there's also a place in Genesis where God says that if Adam eats from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, he will be "like one of us."

I suspect this represents a carryover from earlier polytheistic thinking.

[kfitzwarin.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's interesting. (As in, must think about that more when I'm not at work and trying to do work interesting). Thanks.

[ellipticcurve.livejournal.com]

Are you sure they're collective nouns rather than non-countable nouns? (English has the countable/non-countable distinction, but only (I think) with fewer/less.)

[siderea]

Ever read L'Engel's A Wind In The Door? The one in which one of the characters is "a seraphim"?

אלקים

[(Anonymous)]

You'll notice that in the parts of Genesis where G-d is creating, the Torah uses the word אלקים. It's essentially G-d in the capacity of ruler over all the various facets of nature. It is indeed a collective noun, which I guess is why ברא is used and not ברים. That's the explanation I got :)

Hope that helps.

- Inkhorn