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Re: orion "Pure food" in 1QS

Request of Dave Washburn:

Dave, you have raised some interesting questions about how the semantic
range of certain words can change over time. Would you let the list know
specifically which passages you are consulting? I will consult
Charlesworth to see if I can't find the contexts to which you are
referring. I am engaged in research and writing now that attempts to
incorporate synchronic and diachronic approaches to try to discern the
segment of the semantic continuum that is represented by the cultural unit
associated with these individual signs. I am finding that semiotics can
provide a theoretical underpinning for the kind of research that we are
doing. Which passages that use T-H-R-H are you studying?

-- Thanks, Sarah Melcher

> I can see where this section would be the basis for deciding what food is
> pure and what isn't, but I'm not sure I see how it ties in with the usage
> of +HRT in 1QS.  What I'm trying to do is determine the semantic range of
> this word, both synchronically (approximately at the time of 1QS, assuming
> it can be determined) and diachronically, from the biblical usage to later
> Mishnaic and similar usage.  It looks to me as though the translations of
> it in 1QS presuppose a shift in meaning from abstract "purity," "ceremonial
> cleanness," to concrete, "pure food, especially a particular ceremonial
> meal so designated."  I don't see this shift based on the Jastrow entry
> above.  A good example of the biblical usage is Lev 12:4, right near the
> passage you mentioned.  This refers to ceremonial purification after giving
> birth, and includes a scenario that is strongly remeniscent of the 1QS
> usage: "She much not touch anything sacred" (NIV).  In 1QS we see certain
> individuals who are not to touch the +HRT of the community or of the
> "rabbim."  The other biblical examples I listed are abstract, and speak of
> purification or cleanness in a ceremonial sense, usually being purified
> from some similar ritual defilement like menstruation or other bodily
> emissions, a rash (Lev 13:7 and several others following it), contact with
> a dead body (Num 6:9) and the like.  Thus, the biblical usage is pretty
> abstract and doesn't appear to have much of anything to do with a specific
> ritual meal.  Between this and the Jastrow definition above, which actually
> appears to be equally abstract (though based on the biblical examples I'm
> not sure where he came up with "levitical rules originally prescribed for
> the handling of
> sacred food"), I can't help wondering where the semantic range that extends
> to a specific meal might have come from.  That's what I'm trying to figure
> out.
> 
> Apologies to the moderator if this is too long,
> Dave Washburn
> http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur/
> 
>