Subject: Re: Bulrushes

From: "A.W.T." <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 17:23:49 -0000

--- In lojban@y..., Pierre Abbat <phma@o...> wrote:
> I am attempting to translate Exodus 2 and am getting lost in the bulrushe=
s. 
> So far I have this;
> 
> 2:3. .iba'o lenu ka'e mipri kei ko'e lebna le spatrskirpo lanku gi'e badg=
au
> lo tarla joi pesxu ly gi'e nerpu'i le cifnu ly gi'e punji ly le misryples=
pa
> ne'a la nil.
> 
> DR says the basket was made of bulrushes and placed in the sedges; NIV sa=
ys 
> it was made of papyrus and placed in the reeds. The Hebrew says the tevah=
 
> (which is the same word used for Noah's Ark) was made of gome' and placed=
in 
> the suf (which is the same word as in Yam Suf, Sea of Reeds). Confusing t=
he 
> issue further, some websites I looked up these plants on say that the bul=
rush 
> is a sedge (not a rush, despite the name) of the genus Scirpus, but one s=
ays 
> it's a Typha, which is a cattail (not a rush either). So what are these 
> plants?

Very confusing these botanical issues - at least to me :( So let me try to =
be a bit systematically.

1) What I always have been familiar with from my childhood was that Moses h=
ad been put into a "Binsenkörbchen" (little basket 
made of rush) - most probably, this goes back to Martin Luther's first Germ=
an translation of the Bible.
2) Reading the text in a more recent German translation (not as beautiful, =
yet pretty modern), I found the same word: 2,3 "... Sie 
nahm deshalb ein Kästchen aus *Binsen* und überzog es mit Asphalt und Pech =
und setzte es im Schilf (reed/suf) am Ufer des Nils 
aus".
3) "Binse" (rush) = Hebr.: "samar, 'agmon"
4) "Papyrus-Staude" (papyrus plant) = Hebr.: "gome', kneh-papyrus"

Now it's getting botanical & problematic:

A) BINSENPFLANZEN (Juncales)
Familie (family): BINSENGEWÄCHSE (Juncaceae)
Gattung (genus): Binse (Juncus)
Hainsimse (Luzula)

I feel that A is just misleading (at least for me) but...

B) RIEDGRÄSER UND VERWANDTE (Cyperales)
Familie: Riedgräser (Cyperaceae)
Gattungen: Cypergras (Cyperus)
Binse (Scirpus)
etc. (= Eriophorum, Blysmus, Rhynchospora, Trichoph=
orum, Eleocharis and Carex)

Now, it's quite remarkable that "Cypergrass" (Cyperus) is nothing else but =
"Papyrusstaude" (Cyperus papyrus) and the 2nd genus 
is "Binse" (Scirpus - also mentioned by you) and related very close to papy=
rus!

My conclusion is that Hebr. _gome'_ is the right word, at least referring t=
o the family of _cyperaceae_ (if not directly to Cyperus 
papyrus - which at those times was still closely related to that Nile area)=
. "Binse"/rush used by the translations I know is infact 
_Scirpus_ (which botanically is very close to papyrus) and not _juncus_

I'd vote for _papyrus_ (which, BTW, also gave us the name of the Bible, bec=
ause of Phoenician _Biblos_ being famous for its fine 
papyri)

mu'omi'e .aulun.