Some Notes on Lexicographic Criticism and Biblical Hebrew Studies. Revisiting David J. A. Clines’s Method

This article revisits a series of papers written by David J.A. Clines over a seven-year span in which he proposed a method of “Comparative (Classical) Hebrew Lexicography.” My goal is to prove that the methodological framework employed in his analyses is significantly hindered by chronological and linguistic biases which often and inherently result in inconclusive findings. To counterbalance this, I develop a model of lexicographic criticism and delve into its potential implications. The theory is illustrated through the reevaluation of two case studies extracted from Clines’s own research: the significance and position of the Aramaic language in mediaeval dictionaries of biblical Hebrew and the origins of the interpretation of חֵיל as “outer wall.”