Additional Considerations on

Μια των Σαββατων

Daniel Gregg

            The focus of the first part of this article is to provide evidence for those of us who think that the word "day" does not belong in the phrase "one of the Sabbaths" (μια των σαββατων), or who suspect that it may not be necessary and that σαββατων can be taken as construction according to sense being feminine.   I am not dogmatic about this and only "suspect" that σαββατων is taken as feminine in sense (but not grammar) in Judeo-Greek.

          The second part of this article is to show how μια των σαββατων should look in Hebrew.  It is not meant to address the argument that "day" must be included.  That argument is dealt with in my other article:  Debunking_the_Gender_Argument.html.  That article is the starting point for the traditionalists.  The present article is aimed at those who already agree with me.

          The Hebrew word שבת is listed as feminine and masculine in the Hebrew Lexicon (BDB).   However, there is every reason to question the suggestion that the word is ever really masculine.  First the ת ending is normally feminine.  Second, its plural form שבתות is feminine.  Further, the cognate Aramaic שבתא is feminine.   And in the overwhelming examples of usage there is no problem in regarding שבת as feminine.   HALOT lists the 3 exceptions:  Isaiah 56:2, 6; 58:13 where the phrase "polluting it" is used, and "it" is masculine in Hebrew.  Also in Lev. 23:32, HALOT cites that the Hebrew word "he" is used in reference to the Sabbath.  On the other hand Lev. 16:31 uses the word "she" to refer to the Sabbath. Exodus 31:14 likewise uses the word "she" to refer to the Sabbath, and Lev. 25:6 used the "she" form of the verb in connection with it.

        Most of the exceptions can be disposed of as rare or possible mistakes.  First Isaiah 53:13 may be using the noun ענג and not the verb in which case agreement is not required.  For 56:2, 6, the intent of "polluting it" may really be "polluting oneself" in which case the  ו would not refer to the Sabbath.  In Lev. 23:32, the same phrase is contradicted in 16:31, i.e. הוא vs. היא.  It was a common mistake to lengthen a yud to far so that it became a waw. 

       On the other hand, there is no way to argue with שבתות or the fact that the masculine plural never appears on the ending.

       The question then is how σαββατα ended up being a neuter noun in the Greek language.  This is explained by the fact that σαββατα is an obvious loan word transliteration of the Aramaic שבתא.  The Aramaic word is feminine, but the Greek word looks like a neuter, because words ending in -α are regarded as neuter in Greek.   Hence σαββατα is construed in the neuter, i.e. τα σαββατα.  Speakers of Judeo-Greek, with even a smattering of Hebrew would know that σαββατων represents a feminine Hebrew word.   In the first place the -ων ending is ambiguous and is used for the feminine genitive plural as well as the neuter.  In the second place, the sabbath day is regularly stated as ημερα των σαββατων in which example, ημερα is feminine.  In the Jewish mind the phrase was not a gender clash because the Hebrew was obviously feminine, and the Greek was flexible or to put it another way, bent to the use.  And finally, -ων is merely the translation of the Hebrew feminine plural ending ות-.

        At this point we must disabuse the reader of some modern notions.   There was no such thing as the study of "grammar" in ancient times such that it mattered to common people.  There was no common science of grammar, and no science of linguistics.  Popular notions of grammar where innate learned patterns, with little or no formal acknowledgement.  Someone would just say, that doesn't sound right, and that was the end of the matter.   In Judeo-Greek σαββατων could be regarded as feminine despite the fact that τα σαββατα or του σαββατου were not to be in strict grammar.  Even the later words could be regarded as feminine according to construtio ad sensum.  To illustrate this we merely need to look at a true English neuter, the word "it".    "Look at that boat.  It is beautiful.  Yes, she is."  In a certain sense, neuter is the gender of all English nouns (in the sense that English has only one gender: neuter), and gender only enters the picture when someone uses "she" or "he" or a gender marked word like "actor" or "actress".   Just because we use a neuter word like "boat" does not mean that it has no recognized gender.  Boats are "she" and not "he", and any inanimate object, idea or concept can be an "it" that people have no problem genderizing according to the sense.

      There are important reasons why μια των σαββατων is constructed according to the sense.  If Σαββατων were truly a genderless word in the Jewish mind, then we might expect "one of the sabbaths" to be "εν των σαββατων" (using the neuter, nom.) but the direct Hebrew feminine, and even the use of ημερα in Greek reinforced the feminine idea, not to mention the closely related Aramaic: שבתא.   It is also well known that were gender agreement is required is in a direct adjectival relationship, but in the genitive chain or construct chain, it is not, and this is a case of a construct/genitive chain.  Also, neuter is not really gender.  It is merely a form indicating lack of explicitly grammaticalized gender in either masculine or feminine.   In the Hebrew language, everything has gender.  There is no grammaticalized neuter.  So when the Jews learned Greek, the use of a neuter simply meant that the gender was not being noticed.  It did not mean to speakers of Hebrew that the noun had no gender sense.   One may consider this ethnocentric, but this is how different languages first related: ethnocentrically.

     So from the Hebrew point of view, μια των σαββατων, is a normal phrase for "one/first of the Sabbaths" where all parts of the phrase are regarded as feminine.    It is really the number μια that tells us the constructio ad sensum, even though in form σαββατων  is neuter. Refer to the boat example above.  (This construction according to the sense angle is merely to help us understand the Hebrew original better and how it may have been approached through the Greek.  For the rebuttal of the misuse of the gender of μια by traditionalists as an excuse for introducing the ablative from or transforming σαββατων to "week", see the article:  Debunking_the_Gender_Argument.html).

      Now there are those that will deny that the word σαββατων may be taken in the feminine sense, even by way of Hebrew influence with the word (שבתות).  This denial, however, is merely the absolutism of a system of grammatical rules without regard to real language.   The same absolutism can be used against them.  The Greek word μια will have to modify the concept of "day" in which case the phrase has to be constructed: μια [ημερα] των σαββατων.  To insist on this is to reject the notion that μια may determine the sense of Sabbath in the feminine.  It will be clear, however, that by insisting on ημερα they have made our argument "first day of the sabbaths" for us.  This is because the phrase ημερα των σαββατων occurs in numerous places, and always refers to the Sabbath.¹

אחת השבתות 

       Now, I will demonstrate how μια των σαββατων should look in Hebrew, showing the equivalent LXX, Masoretic Hebrew Text, and Concordant Literal Translation.  The purpose of this exercise is to show the normalness of the way the case and number are taken, i.e. "of the" and the literalness of the plural.  It is not meant to explain the gender aspects of the the phrase μια των σαββατων.  For that one must see the article: Debunking_the_Gender_Argument.html.  See notes *, and **.

      *Note: the examples given are all feminine.  They are not meant to prove the possible feminine sense of σαββατων or address the propriety of adding ημερα to the text, but to show 1. the normal sense of the genitive "of the" and 2. the plural number of the final noun, and 3. How it looks in Hebrew.

        **It is proved in Debunking_the_Gender_Argument.html that the the inclusion or exclusion of ημερα is completely moot to the final result.  Based on that article, I may say that the Hebrew models given here are correct either way whether one believes "day" should go in the text or not.

 The use of μια(ν) των + -ων

    Next I show that the translations "one of the + —s" is completely regular.

Mark 14:66 μια των παιδισκων = one of the maids

Ezek 45:7 μια των μεριδων = one of the portions

Deut 18:6 μια των πολεων = one of the cities

Deut 12:5, 14 μια των φυλων = one of the tribes

Josh. 10:2 μια των μητροπολεων  = one of the metropolisis

Ruth 2:13 μια των παιδισκων = one of the maids

Luke 5:17 μια των ημερων = one of the days

Luke 13:10 μια των συναγωγων = one of the synagogues

The Use of אחת and אחד

     אחת is used with feminine nouns, and אחד is used with masculine nouns.  For example, the latter is used such in Gen. 21:15, Gen. 22:2, 2Sa 6:20, Ezek. 45:7, Daniel 10:13.

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1. "one [day] of the Sabbaths" or "one of the Sabbath-days".  If "Sabbaths" cannot be regarded by construction according to sense as feminine in Greek, then supply the word "day" as the feminine target, which is equal to the sabbath in any case.  So the same result is obtained vicariously through the interpolation of the word day.