holies again

[Jules Levin]

At 01:59 PM 3/9/2006, you wrote:
>Hi,
>
>Sorry but I lost the thread of Jules Levin's question concerning
>"svyataya svyatykh". I believe it is agreed that it is a neuter
>plural form, which faithfully reflects the forms found in the Latin
>and Greek bibles, but not in the Russian bible where we find
>"svyatoe svyatykh". Knowing no Hebrew (I hang my head in shame!), does
>the original Hebrew "qodhesh ha-qodhashim" encourage the plural or
>the singular translation?
>
>HOLY OF HOLIES
>
>(qodhesh ha-qodhashim, Ex 26:33, debhir, 1 Ki 6:16, etc.; in the New
>Testament, hagia hagiwn, Hebrews 9:3)

First, I feel justified in asking a question that turned out to be not so
simple.  I for one as a non-native speaker was surprised that there could be
an indeclinable FEM in -aya (v etu svyataya...) which I don't recall 
ever seeing
in any exception-crowded grammar I was eddicated with (sorry, Dean).
Second, John's query re the Hebrew (no neuters!) is even more complicated,
since the phrase in question (also into English!) translates not 
qodhesh ha-..., but at least in the
prayer book where I originally saw it, a single word d-b-y-r 
(devir).  Thus the phrase "holy of holies",
while originally Hebrew, seems to have spread independently in target 
languages over a wider sphere,
which I am guessing goes back to the Septuagint.  I am also guessing 
that the English phrase "inner Sanctum"
referred to the same space as "holy of holies"--the innermost sacred 
space of the tabernacle in Solomon's temple.
I am STILL aghast at v etu svyataya svyatyx [how come svyatyx isn't 
also indeclinable?]
Since, John, you lost the thread, I take the liberty of quoting 
Daniel Rancour-Laferriere's message:

"I use the following source for these kinds of questions: A. A. 
Azarov, _Russko-angliiskii slovar' religioznoi leksiki (s 
tolkovaniiami)_ (Russo: Moscow, 2002).
There (p. 596) the entry for "sviataia sviatykh" says the expression 
"ne skloniaetsia," as in "kovcheg Zaveta nakhodilsia v sviataia sviatykh."
The expression is indeed borrowed into Russian from the Church 
Slavonic neuter plural.  Curiously, however, Azarov says there is a 
"'osovremenennyi' variant," namely, "sviatoe sviatykh," and this one 
IS declined. e.g., "v sviatom sviatykh." "

Jules Levin  

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