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September 12, 2008
Friday Loanword: maškattu
Akkadian maškattu means "account, deposit, storehouse" or the like. In the plural it is maškanātu. Maškattu is well attested in Old Akkadian, Old Assyrian, Middle Babylonian, Standard Babylonian and Neo-Babylonia. But it is unattested in both Middle Assyrian and Neo-Assyrian and there's the rub. But I'll get to that later.
Exodus 1:11; I Kings 9:19; II Chronicles 8:4,6; and 17:12 each have the expression עָרֵי מִסְכְּנֹות. One should likely read II Chronicles16:4 in the same way. The two words seem to have been transposed. In every case save II Chronicles16:4 the LXX renders this phrase πολεις (τας) οχυρας, "fortified cities." In II Chronicles16:4, the LXX renders כל־מסכנות ערי (to be read כל־ערי מסכנות ?) τας περιχωρους, "the environs." The various contexts give little or no indication of the meaning of the Hebrew.
Most English translations render the phrase "supply cities" or something very much like it. The lack of a clear Hebrew etymology suggests borrowing. Akkadian maškattu provides a rather obvious choice for the source of the loanword. But the Hebrew spelling with ס suggests a Middle Assyrian or Neo-Assyrian source. The late Assyrian's appear to have pronounced Babylonian š as /s/. As Mankowski, 99, says,
The hypothesis is embarrassed somewhat by the lack of MA or NA attestation, and by the absence of a phrase such as ālānu (ša) maškanātim in Akkadian. In spite of the shaky nature of the positive evidence, the loan-hypothesis is still the least unsatisfactory explanation for this word.
"The least unsatisfactory explanation for this word" means that Mankiwski thinks the "loan-hypothesis" is the highest probability explanation of the word and so do I. But this loan, if it is indeed a loan, is not as certain as are some of the others we have studied for lo these several Fridays.
References:
Posted by Duane Smith at September 12, 2008 7:46 PM | Read more on Hebrew Bible |
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