Thursday, July 6, 2023

What land was Sichon king of?

Sound like a silly question? I'm not so sure it is.We find numerous references throughout the תורה to the אמורי. In פרשת חקת, we are introduced to סיחון מלך האמורי. It would seem, from the structure of the word, that אמורי is the name of the nationality - Canadian, American, אמורי. But what is the name of the land? Canada, America ... Is it אמור? Is it possible that אמורי was also the name of the land and the word simply stays as is? We see a similar situation with the families listed in the census: לְיִשְׁוִי מִשְׁפַּחַת הַיִּשְׁוִי

Am I missing something obvious on this? Anyone see anything that might answer this question? It is similar to our discussion of יהצה.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I thought about your question all shabbos (after I read it on Friday, after I read the weekly shtikle, which linked to this page.) I don't think the Amorites had a particular place. They were based in Canaan, but Canaan was not their land. Like Bedouins.

DF

Shtikler said...

Interesting suggestion. That would explain why סיכון is also referred to simply as הכנעני.

ELIE said...

אולי אפשר לומר כאן
יגיד עליו רעו
כנען יבוס
חת
אם כן גם אמור
אולי