Semantic Developments in the Locution עמד על in Late Biblical Hebrew

Abstract

As Avi Hurvitz and others have shown, the transition between classical biblical Hebrew and rabbinic Hebrew, which is evidenced by late biblical Hebrew, is discernible in semantic developments. Words and expressions with one meaning in classical biblical Hebrew occur in late biblical Hebrew, but with new meanings that are closer to their meanings in rabbinic Hebrew. This article traces the locution על + עמ"ד in classical biblical Hebrew, late biblical Hebrew, and rabbinic Hebrew. Alongside the classical meanings ('to be present in a place or above something', 'to serve', and 'to oversee'), in late biblical Hebrew the locution acquires a new meaning ('to oppose', 'to confront in war'). This latter meaning of,על + עמ"ד which is not commonly found in classical biblical Hebrew, anticipates the meaning of the locution in rabbinic Hebrew and should be considered a feature of late biblical Hebrew.