To be clear, the Hebrew language always had vowels. They just were not written at that time. I feel confident that is what you meant, but do not wish to cause confusion, especially in light of what I will have to say about the transliteration of aleph and ayin below.JoeWallack wrote:1) The definite article הָ (as I'm sure you know, the Hebrew at that time would not have had any vowels) before רָמָתַיִם צוֹפִים does not appear to indicate that a city follows (from the Ramoth*). The lack of a definite article would generally indicate a city (from Ramoth*).
And it is quite true that most place names are considered definite in and of themselves and thus lack the definite article; however, with place names that are just common nouns elevated to proper status (such as Mizpeh, literally the watchtower or lookout point), the article is often present, especially early on. Ramah (height) and Ramoth (heights) obviously qualify. Other place names that (often) take the definite article are Bashan and Gilead. So do the great rivers, the Jordan and the Nile.
It is clear that it is the name of a settlement of some kind. After all, Elkanah and Hannah have a house there (1 Samuel 1.19). I detect no confusion as to what Ramathaim means at that Rashi link you provided; there may, however, be some confusion about Zophim.2) It's unclear what הָרָמָתַיִם צוֹפִים means here. If it's unclear to the Rashi than I think it would be unclear to you.
I cannot imagine why it would sound like a clan to you. Why would it be in the dual?3) הָרָמָתַיִם צוֹפִים sounds like and may refer to a clan.
Mount Ephraim is not a settlement. It is a hilly district containing numerous settlements: Timnath-serah (Joshua 19.50; 24.30), Shechem (Joshua 20.7; 21.21), Gibeah (24.33), Ramah and Bethel (Judges 4.5), Shamir (Judges 10.1), and of course Ramoth (1 Samuel 1.1). The NASB you used was trying to tell you that, but you crossed out the information and created a problem that is not there.4) 3) is supported by a definite location which follows, from "Mount Ephraim", which suggests that הָרָמָתַיִם צוֹפִים is not the location here.
What Christians are you referring to? I am looking at the Hebrew scriptures and the LXX. (I presented Eusebius only because you asked whether the fathers ever made the connection between Greek Arimathea and Hebrew Ramoth. I also recall asking you which fathers you had in mind who did not, and you have yet to answer me.)5) Of course there was no separation of letters in the Hebrew (or Greek), so how could Christians be sure of rightly dividing הָרָמָתַיִם צוֹפִים?
Because that just happens sometimes with Hebrew words transliterated (instead of translated) into Greek. For example, 1 Chronicles 4.21 mentions byssus (הַבֻּ֖ץ), a fine textile of some kind, and the Greek transliterates it, retaining the definite article as an initial alpha (αβακ).6) If you take the הָ here as the definite article before the city of Ramoth, why add the definite article to a Greek transliteration for "Ramoth"?
I think those two letters were glottal or pharyngeal, not silent (I have no special knowledge on this; that is just what I have read, both in Hebrew textbooks and in linguistic studies); but, since the languages they were transliterated into (including English) often lacked those sounds, they were treated as silent in those target languages. There are places where both of these consonants look like an alpha is representing them in the Greek, and that may be the case sometimes (not sure), but I think that what is usually happening is that the consonant itself is being treated as silent, and the alpha is representing the underlying vowel sound that would be pronounced after the ayin or the aleph. (This is why, for example, a name with an initial ayin can start with a Greek eta in Genesis 38.3, yet another name with an initial ayin can start with a Greek alpha in 1 Chronicles 4.35.)7) Hebrew has two silent letters that could have an "a" sounding vowel, aleph and ayin. Are these ever transliterated into the Greek alpha?
(You do realize, by the way, that I do not think Arimathea was necessarily the hometown of Elkanah and Hannah, right? That I am not sure which of the several towns called Ramoth it might have been? That the linguistic connection of Arimathea to Ramoth can be fairly secure, while the precise identification of which Ramoth is in mind might not be? Just checking.)
Ben.