On the Word "Sopherim"

ON THE WORD "SOPHERIM"

Philwynk commented:

“Good grief, folks... I had barely begun reading this page when I saw your use of the word, "Sopherims." Immediately, I had trouble accepting your scholarship. Why? Because "im" is a Hebrew plural. The Hebrew word "sapher" (3 characters: samech, phe, raish) means "a scribe" or "a secretary." More than one would be "sapherim." Calling them "Sopherims" tacks and English plural onto a Hebrew plural; it's like saying "writerses" instead of "writers." This indicates that you are unfamiliar with the Hebrew language at a very basic level. Now, that sort of unfamiliarity is forgivable in a layman. However, this is an article purporting to provide expert analysis of the accuracy of Hebrew texts. So now I have to evaluate whether I want to learn expert information about Hebrew texts from guys who don't even know enough Hebrew to recognize a simple plural. I decided I can't trust you. I just wanted you to know why.”

Pristine Truth Answers:

Good grief, Philwynk! Don’t you know that the use of a certain word evolved especially when the word was borrowed by another language?

The article is not in Hebrew but in English, thus, the grammar rules in English should be used and not the grammar rules in Hebrew. Your example “writerses” is not analogous with “sopherims” because “writer” is indeed an English word while “sopherim” is borrowed from Hebrew. Thus, you committed the fallacy of wrong analogy.

Maybe you only forgot that the use of a certain word evolved especially when that word was borrowed by another language. The use of a word in it’s original language is not the same when that word was borrowed by another language.

The used of “Sopherims” in the article (adding “s” in the word “Sopherim”) is an example. Here, the word “Sopherim” is used as the word to indicate those scribes from the a certain period of time. In accordance with the English rules, because we are referring to more than one scribe, thus we add “s” to the word. This is not wrong, because if such is erroneous, it is also erroneous to say, “KJV, RSV and TEV are Bibles in English language.” Take note that originally the “word “Bible” is plural in form (biblos and biblion are the singular forms, and ta biblia is the Greek plural form). However, the use of the word “ta biblia” evolved, especially when the word was used in other languages. Thus, the word “Bible” although originally plural form, now it’s singular and the plural English form is “Bibles.” The word, “Sopherim” in the article was not used in it’s original Hebrew usage, but in modern usage to indicate the “scribes” in a certain period. Thus, the word is used in modern usage and modern English usage dictates that if a word is plural (referring to more than one) you have to add “s” or “es” – if referring to a scribe from the period from 500 BC to 200 BC (take note that the use of the “Sopherim” is in modern usage and not in original Hebrew usage), you use “Sopherim,” and if referring to more than one, you use “Sopherims.” Just like the word “Bible” - although originally it's plural, however, in modern English usage, singular is “Bible” and plural is “Bibles.”