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אמר

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אמר1 to say

Pronunciation

  • Tiberian: ʾāmar, pausal ʾāmār[1][2]
  • Samaritan reading tradition: ā̊mår, imperfect yā̊ʾūmər[3]

Forms

אָמַר (ʾāmar) verb[1] Imperfect יֹאמַר, with waw consecutive וַיֹּאמֶר, imperative אֱמֹר, infinitive construct אֱמֹר and, very often, לֵאמֹר; participle אֹמֵר.[4] The qal makes up nearly all of the 5,307 occurrences; the niphal means “to be said, be called”.[1][5] The Lachish ostraca spell it ’mr and l’mr.[6]

Etymology

The verb “to say” is inherited from a Semitic root Proto-Semitic *ʔmr,[7] whose meaning differs from branch to branch.[4] “To say” is the sense in Phoenician ʾmr,[7] in Aramaic אֲמַר (ʾămar), which is also the verb of the Aramaic chapters of Ezra and Daniel,[8][1] and in Classical Syriac ܐܡܪ (ʾmar).[9] Kogan lists “to say” among the words Hebrew shares with Aramaic, in his chapter on the Northwest Semitic hypothesis, and calls Arabic أَمَرَ (ʾamara, “to order, command”) and the Old South Arabian verb “to command” clearly related.[10][11] In Akkadian amāru and in Ugaritic the root means “to see”,[12][13][14] and Ge'ez አመረ (ʾammara) is “to show, make known”.[5][7] HALOT, following Moscati and others, cautiously proposes a basic meaning “to be light, to see, to make visible”, from which “to make known” and then “to say” would come,[4] and Huehnergard glosses the root “to see, know, make known, say”.[15] BDB thought rather of an original “be prominent”, comparing a Sabaean epithet of kings meaning “lofty”.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest dated records are the letters on potsherds from Lachish, which Sáenz-Badillos dates to the 6th century BC.[16] In them the verb appears twelve times, as ’mr “he said” and as l’mr, the Hebrew לֵאמֹר (lēʾmōr) “saying” that introduces quoted speech.[6][4] In the Bible it is found in the archaic poems as well: in the Song of the Sea the enemy boasts ʾāmar ʾôyēḇ ʾerdōp̄ ʾaśśîḡ “the enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake’” (Exodus 15:9).[17][1]

Semantic evolution

In the Bible the verb is the ordinary word for saying, used of God, people, animals and even trees, and HALOT stresses that it is always followed by what is said, unlike דִּבֶּר (dibbēr, “to speak”).[4] The infinitive לֵאמֹר, “by saying”, became little more than a colon before direct speech, after verbs of speaking, asking, sending and hearing.[4] With an object it can mean “to mention” or “to praise”, with לְ “to call (something by a name)”, and ʾāmar bəlibbô “to say in one's heart” is “to think”, matching Akkadian qibû ina libbišu.[4] With an infinitive it expresses intention, as in the Phoenician inscriptions of Karatepe.[4] The prophetic messenger formula kōh ʾāmar YHWH, “thus says the LORD”, introduces the oracles.[4]

The Septuagint renders it by forms of Ancient Greek λέγω (légō), above all εἶπεν, “he said”.[1] The Dead Sea Scrolls use it about 3,000 times, most of them in biblical scrolls.[18] Mishnaic Hebrew keeps the verb, with the infinitive לוֹמַר for לֵאמֹר,[4] and Modern Hebrew אָמַר (amár) has the same infinitive.[2]

Timeline

  • 6th century BC – ’mr and l’mr in the Lachish ostraca.[16][6]
  • Archaic Hebrew poetry – 35 occurrences, among them Exodus 15:9 in the Song of the Sea.[17][1]
  • Classical Biblical Hebrew – about half of the 5,307 occurrences are in the prose of Genesis to Kings.[1]
  • 3rd–2nd century BC – the Septuagint translates it by Ancient Greek λέγω (légō).[19][1]
  • 2nd century BC – 2nd century AD – about 3,000 occurrences in the Dead Sea Scrolls.[20][18]

Meanings

Verb

  1. qal: to say, to tell someone something, always with what is said following.[4][5]
  2. qal, infinitive לֵאמֹר: “saying”, introducing direct speech.[4]
  3. qal: to mention someone or something; to praise.[4]
  4. qal with לְ: to call, to name.[4]
  5. qal: to say to oneself, to think.[4]
  6. qal with an infinitive: to intend.[4]
  7. niphal: to be said; to be called.[5]

Word family

  • אִמְרָה (ʾimrâ)

Descendants

  • Modern Hebrew אָמַר (amár)[2]

אמר2 word, saying

Pronunciation

Forms

אֵמֶר (ʾēmer) noun, masculine[1][21] Construct plural אִמְרֵי, plural אֲמָרִים, with suffixes אִמְרוֹ, אֲמָרַי.[22]

Etymology

The noun “word” is formed from Biblical Hebrew אָמַר (ʾāmar, “to say”).[22][23] HALOT gives it the traditional vocalisation with /ē/, matching the nouns of Jewish Aramaic, Mandaic and Syriac, but asks whether all its forms rather belong to אֹמֶר (ʾōmer), with Bauer–Leander and Kutscher.[22] BDB already lists both vocalisations under one headword.[21]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun belongs to poetry from its first appearances: in the Oracles of Balaam the seer is šōmēaʿ ʾimrê-ʾēl, “one who hears the words of God” (Numbers 24:4, 16), and the Song of Moses opens with “let the earth hear ʾimrê-p̄î, the words of my mouth” (Deuteronomy 32:1).[17][1] Sáenz-Badillos counts both poems among the most archaic Hebrew, without giving them a date.[17]

Semantic evolution

Of its 48 occurrences, 38 are in the poetic books, above all Job, Psalms and Proverbs, and BDB calls it a word of poetry and of elevated style, as in Joshua 24:27.[1][21] It is used for human words, often in the plural and in pairs with other words for speech and teaching, for the words of God, and in the phrase ʾimrê-p̄î, “the words of my mouth”.[21] Wisdom literature has ʾimrê ḏaʿaṯ “words of knowledge” and ʾimrê nōʿam “pleasant words”.[21] The Septuagint renders it by Ancient Greek ῥῆμα (rhêma) and Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos).[1] The Dead Sea Scrolls have it 35 times, 25 of them in non-biblical texts.[18]

Timeline

  • Archaic Hebrew poetry – ʾimrê-ʾēl in the Oracles of Balaam (Numbers 24:4) and ʾimrê-p̄î in the Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32:1).[17][1]
  • Biblical poetry – 38 of the 48 occurrences, in Job, Psalms and Proverbs.[1]
  • 3rd–2nd century BC – the Septuagint translates it by Ancient Greek ῥῆμα (rhêma).[19][1]
  • 2nd century BC – 2nd century AD – 35 occurrences in the Dead Sea Scrolls.[20][18]

Meanings

Noun

  1. a word, an utterance, usually in the plural: words, sayings.[22][21]
  2. the words of God.[21]
  3. (wisdom) words of instruction: ʾimrê ḏaʿaṯ “words of knowledge”.[21]

אמר3 speech, word

Pronunciation

  • Tiberian: ʾōmer[1]

Forms

אֹמֶר (ʾōmer) noun, masculine[1][2] Once spelt plene, אוֹמֶר (Job 22:28).[24]

Etymology

The noun “speech” is formed from Biblical Hebrew אָמַר (ʾāmar, “to say”).[24][23] HALOT compares Ugaritic ảmr and Arabic أَمْر (ʾamr, “command, matter”).[24][25] DULAT glosses the Ugaritic noun “order, demand”, perhaps also “word”, and names beside it the Hebrew word and a noun “speech” in Punic, Ammonite and Edomite.[25]

Earliest recorded meaning

Two of its six occurrences are in archaic poems: ʾăḏōnāy yitten-ʾōmer, “the Lord gives the word” (Psalm 68:12), and the obscure šəḇuʿôṯ maṭṭôṯ ʾōmer of Habakkuk 3:9.[17][1] HALOT reads Psalm 68:12 as אִמְרָה (ʾimrâ) and lists emendations for Habakkuk 3:9.[24]

Semantic evolution

In Psalm 19:3–4 the days pass on ʾōmer to one another, which HALOT takes as “saying, news”, and in Job 22:28 wəṯiḡzar-ʾômer is “you will decide a matter”, the word coming close to “thing” as דָּבָר (dāḇār) does.[24] The Septuagint renders it by Ancient Greek ῥῆμα (rhêma).[1] The Dead Sea Scrolls have it twice, both in biblical scrolls.[18] Klein gives the noun as “word, speech, saying”, and Modern Hebrew אֹמֶר (ómer) keeps it.[23][2]

Timeline

  • Archaic Hebrew poetry – Psalm 68:12 and Habakkuk 3:9.[17][1]
  • Biblical poetry – Psalm 19:3–4 and Job 22:28.[1][24]
  • 3rd–2nd century BC – the Septuagint translates it by Ancient Greek ῥῆμα (rhêma).[19][1]

Meanings

Noun

  1. a saying, news.[24]
  2. a matter, something decreed.[24]

Descendants

  • Modern Hebrew אֹמֶר (ómer)[2]

Usage notes

The Aramaic chapters of Ezra and Daniel use the cognate verb אֲמַר “to say” (71 times) and the noun אִמַּר “lamb” (three times, first in Ezra 6:9), which is not related to the verb and belongs with Akkadian immeru (“sheep”).[1][26][27] HALOT sets apart a second root אמר, with a hithpael “to boast” in Psalm 94:4 and perhaps Isaiah 61:6, and a noun II אֵמֶר “twig” in ʾimrê-šāp̄er (Genesis 49:21), taken as “branched antlers”.[28][29] Klein reports both readings of that phrase, the usual “fine words” and “branched antlers”,[30] while Tawil compares Akkadian immeru and reads “lambs”.[31]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Clear Bible (2023–), MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets (Westminster Leningrad Codex, with Greek alignment), github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-hebrew, CC BY 4.0
  2. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  3. ^ Højgaard, Christian Canu; Naaijer, Martijn; Schorch, Stefan (2023), Text-Fabric Dataset of the Samaritan Pentateuch, Zenodo, doi:10.5281/zenodo.7734632
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Koehler, Ludwig; Baumgartner, Walter; Stamm, Johann Jakob (1994–2000), The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, transl. and ed. M. E. J. Richardson, 5 vols, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. אמר I
  5. ^ a b c d e Brown, Francis; Driver, S. R.; Briggs, Charles A. (1906), A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, with an Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. אָמַר
  6. ^ a b c Davies, Graham I. (1991), Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions: Corpus and Concordance, vol. 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 1.003
  7. ^ a b c Militarev, Alexander, et al., Semitic Etymology (database semet), The Tower of Babel (StarLing), starling.rinet.ru
  8. ^ Kaufman, Stephen A., ed., Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, cal.huc.edu, p. s.v. אמר
  9. ^ Sokoloff, Michael (2009), A Syriac Lexicon, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns; Piscataway: Gorgias Press, p. 57
  10. ^ Kogan, Leonid (2015), Genealogical Classification of Semitic: The Lexical Isoglosses, Berlin: De Gruyter, p. 233
  11. ^ Lane, Edward William (1863–1893), An Arabic-English Lexicon, 8 parts, London: Williams and Norgate, p. 96
  12. ^ del Olmo Lete, Gregorio; Sanmartín, Joaquín (2015), A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition, 3rd ed., transl. W. G. E. Watson, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. ʔ-m-r
  13. ^ von Soden, Wolfram (1965–1981), Akkadisches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, p. 40
  14. ^ Gelb, Ignace J., et al., eds. (1956–2010), The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 21 vols, Chicago: Oriental Institute, p. A/2 5
  15. ^ Huehnergard, John (2011), "Proto-Semitic Language and Culture" and "Semitic Roots", in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, p. s.v. ʾmr
  16. ^ a b Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 77
  17. ^ a b c d e f g Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 69
  18. ^ a b c d e Abegg, Martin G.; Jacobs, Jarod; Roorda, Dirk (2022), The Dead Sea Scrolls, Text-Fabric dataset, version 2.0.2, github.com/ETCBC/dss
  19. ^ a b c Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 93
  20. ^ a b Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 143
  21. ^ a b c d e f g h i Brown, Francis; Driver, S. R.; Briggs, Charles A. (1906), A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, with an Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. אֵמֶר
  22. ^ a b c d Koehler, Ludwig; Baumgartner, Walter; Stamm, Johann Jakob (1994–2000), The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, transl. and ed. M. E. J. Richardson, 5 vols, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. אֵמֶר I
  23. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest (1987), A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English, Jerusalem: Carta; Haifa: University of Haifa, p. s.v. אֹמֶר
  24. ^ a b c d e f g h Koehler, Ludwig; Baumgartner, Walter; Stamm, Johann Jakob (1994–2000), The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, transl. and ed. M. E. J. Richardson, 5 vols, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. אֹמֶר
  25. ^ a b del Olmo Lete, Gregorio; Sanmartín, Joaquín (2015), A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition, 3rd ed., transl. W. G. E. Watson, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. ảmr I
  26. ^ Gelb, Ignace J., et al., eds. (1956–2010), The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 21 vols, Chicago: Oriental Institute, p. I/J 145
  27. ^ von Soden, Wolfram (1965–1981), Akkadisches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, p. 378
  28. ^ Koehler, Ludwig; Baumgartner, Walter; Stamm, Johann Jakob (1994–2000), The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, transl. and ed. M. E. J. Richardson, 5 vols, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. אמר II
  29. ^ Koehler, Ludwig; Baumgartner, Walter; Stamm, Johann Jakob (1994–2000), The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, transl. and ed. M. E. J. Richardson, 5 vols, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. אֵמֶר II
  30. ^ Klein, Ernest (1987), A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English, Jerusalem: Carta; Haifa: University of Haifa, p. s.v. אֵמֶר
  31. ^ Tawil, Hayim ben Yosef (2009), An Akkadian Lexical Companion for Biblical Hebrew: Etymological-Semantic and Idiomatic Equivalents, Jersey City: Ktav, p. 24