[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: orion ostracon

Greg Doudna wrote:

> At the Jerusalem conference Golb showed a photograph in
> which the letter transcribed by Cross and Eshel as a yod is not
> the massive inverted arrowhead (too large to be a yod in any case)
> of Cross and Eshel; instead there is a vertical upright line inside
> the "arrowhead" which is the actual letter.  This is visible in the
> IEJ
> photograph.  The letter is either a gimel or a nun, and cannot
> be a yod.  Therefore there is no "yachad" reading.  At the end of
> his talk Golb reported with permission the judgment of Joseph
> Naveh that the "yachad" reading does not exist.
>
> No argument here with the Cross/Eshel reading of the preceding word,
> the temporal "and when he fulfills...".  But the noun "Yachad" is not
> the
> word that fills the next slot.  I spent a lot of time in Jerusalem
> studying that ostracon through the glass case.  Fred Cryer and I have
> prepared an article with readings of all lines.  The readings and
> interpretations of Cryer and me differ in a number of places; both of
> our versions and arguments are presented in the same article.  However
>
> both of us agree on the same solution for the critical word, which may
> be
> formulated as a word puzzle which must fulfill the following
> constraints:
>
>      First letter: lamed
>      Second letter: gimel or nun
>      Third letter: aleph
>      Fourth letter: dalet, chet, zayin (or kaph?)
>      Fifth or more letters: All possibilities (lacuna)
>
> The correct word in this land sale (not deed of gift) seems hardly
> other than lamed-nun-aleph-chet-(zayin...), niphal infinitive of
> aleph-chet-zayin, "and when he completes taking possession
> (of it)..."  For the full argument, see our article (forthcoming).
>
> In short there is no "yachad" and nothing identifiably Essene in
> this ostracon.  Cross and Eshel have the names Eleazar, and probably
> Honi, right.  Those are the principals.  Honi is buying land from
> Eleazar.  (Cryer has Eleazar buying land from Honi.)  This ostracon
> is of interest because it is what is actually happening at Qumran,
> and because it is also the most extensive text that can be known to
> have been written at Qumran.

    On studying Dave Washburn's enhancements, and seeing a probable
nun, a certain (to me) aleph, and a possible het in the lacuna:

Or KMLYTW LN)H.  The question would be in context for either
house/habitation or pasture. What is interesting is that all this debate

over whether it says LYXD (which I dont think it does) while it may
say "house/habitation" which could mean the same thing to the writer.
Is finding the "buzzword" YXD essential?

Jack Kilmon
jpman@accesscomm.net