Moses with horns

[Geoff Nathan]

Since I'm an old-fashioned linguist I looked it up in a book--not only that but an old one (actually a reprint of an old one)--that happens to be in my study.

According to Gesenius Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon there are two roots:

qeren (f.) a horn, as of an ox, a goat or a ram. So in all the cognate languages. Also Gr. kiras, Lat. cornu, French corne, Goth haurns, whence Germ. Horn.

and

qa:ran verb denom. to radiate, to emit beams, to shine (used of the face of Moses). Ex. 34:29 etc. Absurdly rendered by Acq. and Vulg. cornuta erat, whence painters represent Moses as having horns.

(Editorial commentary in Gesenius' original text. The IE connections are, of course, to be taken with a grain of Nostratic salt.)

Gesenius Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures, with additions etc. by Samuel Prideaux Tregelles. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans 1949. p.744

A more recent authority (Klein 1987) connects qeren with Arabic qarn, Akkadian qarnu etc.

The 'shine' word is pretty close to a hapax--a one-time-only occurrence.  It actually only occurs in the story of Moses bringing the tablets, although it is used three times.

Klein, Earnest. 1987. A comprehensive etymological dictionary of the Hebrew language for readers of English. New York: Macmillan. p. 595.

Geoffrey S. Nathan
Faculty Liaison, C&IT
and Associate Professor, Linguistics Program
+1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT)
+1 (313) 577-8621 (English/Linguistics)

----- "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:

> From: "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Sunday, March 28, 2010 4:01:13 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: Re: Moses with horns
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Moses with horns
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 2:10 PM -0400 3/28/10, Wilson Gray wrote:
> >Acording to the story that I heard, the translators of the
> Septuagint
> >misread the Hebrew word, _qrn_ "ray" for the word, _qrn_ "horn,"
> both
> >related to _QoReN_, the surname of my first Hebrew professor.
> >
> >To those who know what really happened, please note that I present
> an
> >alternative *story* and not the *truth*.
> >
> >-Wilson
>
> I've read the same account in a novel and now that i look for it I
> see it showing up in various places on the web.  So it *must* be
> true!
>
> One of my favorite debunking accounts begins eloquently,
>
> "Not only did Moses not have horns but actually *no* Jews have horns
> contrary to what the old anti-Semitic myth purports"
> http://www.askmoses.com/en/article/662,2068869/Did-Moses-have-horns.html
>
> Gee, and here I always thought that's why all Jews wear hats.
>
> LH
>
>
> >On Sun, Mar 28, 2010 at 7:28 AM, Tom Zurinskas <truespel at hotmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>-----------------------
> >>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>  Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> >>  Subject:      Moses with horns
> >>
> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>  My wife just read an article to me that said there are thousands
> of picturr=
> >>  es of Moses with horns on his head.  Even Michaelangelo did it.
> The reason=
> >>   is that in the 400's St Jerome misinterpreted the Bible which
> said that Mo=
> >>  ses's face had glowing skin into his head had horns.  This was the
> new bibl=
> >>  e=2C and thus Moses must have horns in the paintings. =20
> >>
> >>  Tom Zurinskas=2C USA - CT20=2C TN3=2C NJ33=2C FL7+=20
> >>  see truespel.com phonetic spelling
> >>
> >>
> >>  =20
> >>  =20
> >>                                          =20
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> >
> >
> >--
> >-Wilson
> >---
> >All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"--a strange complaint
> to
> >come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> >-Mark Twain
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