05-29-2005, 04:27 AM
Shlama Akhi Khabiba Keith...
It has been too long since we have been blessed by your presence.
Basically, to answer your question, Alma is in fact a very rare but valid MALE Hebrew name. You have cited the main resource for this already, the finds of Yigal Yadin of the Bar Kochba letters. And of course, the name does not mean "maiden", "virgin" or any such female thing.
In Aramaic though ALMA-- ayin-lamed-meem-alap (Heb. OLAM) --can mean both "eternity" and "universe". I would suggest then that, while the source material for a definitive conclusion is probably limited, it is surely more likely that one of these meanings is being tapped, rather than "maiden". Furthermore, these other meanings are MASCULINE words.
As for Mishnaic Hebrew, I am far from an expert, but it does appear from my limited exposure to it to mix Aramaic and Hebrew elements in an overall Hebrew structure. For example, I have noted with interest the use of the Mishanaic terms "mitzvot d'rabbanan" (commandments of the rabbis) and "mitzvot d'aurayta" (commandments of the Torah). This of course is intriguing for two reasons. First, regular Hebrew does not use a dalet proclitic but would have a lamed proclitic do double duty here. Second, "aurayta" is a purely Aramaic word for "Torah" that nonetheless retains the proper root of the word, AUR (light).
Hope this helps a little bit and my best to you and your family.
It has been too long since we have been blessed by your presence.
Basically, to answer your question, Alma is in fact a very rare but valid MALE Hebrew name. You have cited the main resource for this already, the finds of Yigal Yadin of the Bar Kochba letters. And of course, the name does not mean "maiden", "virgin" or any such female thing.
In Aramaic though ALMA-- ayin-lamed-meem-alap (Heb. OLAM) --can mean both "eternity" and "universe". I would suggest then that, while the source material for a definitive conclusion is probably limited, it is surely more likely that one of these meanings is being tapped, rather than "maiden". Furthermore, these other meanings are MASCULINE words.
As for Mishnaic Hebrew, I am far from an expert, but it does appear from my limited exposure to it to mix Aramaic and Hebrew elements in an overall Hebrew structure. For example, I have noted with interest the use of the Mishanaic terms "mitzvot d'rabbanan" (commandments of the rabbis) and "mitzvot d'aurayta" (commandments of the Torah). This of course is intriguing for two reasons. First, regular Hebrew does not use a dalet proclitic but would have a lamed proclitic do double duty here. Second, "aurayta" is a purely Aramaic word for "Torah" that nonetheless retains the proper root of the word, AUR (light).
Hope this helps a little bit and my best to you and your family.
Shlama w'burkate
Andrew Gabriel Roth
Andrew Gabriel Roth