[Avodah] Leshon haKodesh

[Simon Montagu]

On Wed, Aug 4, 2010 at 3:36 AM, Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org> wrote:

> The following was posted by Amitai Halivni
> <chr04ha at techunix.technion.ac.il> to soc.culture.jewish.moderated.
>
> : Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2010 06:41:33 +0000 (UTC)
> : From: Amitai <chr04ha at techunix.technion.ac.il>
>
> : On Aug 4, 7:07 am, "Abe Kohen" <abeko... at gmail.com> wrote:
> : >                                          Hebrew has NO dirty words, and
> : > tachat is not a dirty word. (Ayin tachat ayin.)
>
> : I agree that there aren't many, but your NO is too sweeping. Even in
> : theTanakh several had to be euphemized ("ktiv-qri"). See e.g., 2 Kings
> : 18:27.
>
> Abe is agreeing with the Rambam, who gives this phenomenon as the reason
> why Hebrew is Leshon haQodesh. So, how does the Rambam translate the
> kesiv in the pasuq Amitai sites. I must say it sure looks to me too like
> the q'ri is replacing scatalogical terms with more euphamistic ones.
>
>
shama`ti mipi HaRav Ephraim Wiesenberg zt"l: words change their meaning and
their register, especially words of this kind, and the standard term of one
century is considered scatological in another century and needs to be
euphemized.

If you look up the KJV ("appointed to be read in churches") for the verse
referred to, you will see that it translates "mey raglayim" with a word that
nobody would use in church in the 21st century. I'm sure that the ketiv
words in the verse weren't dirty words at the time of Bayit Rishon, but by
Bayit Sheni or later they couldn't be read out in public.
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