The cultural unit black in the Old Testament‎

Abstract

The subject is the existence, functioning, and symbolism of the cultural unit Black in the ‎biblical text in different languages, starting with Hebrew. The approach is linguo-semiotic. ‎The scope includes: 1. Definition of Umberto Eco’s (1996 [1985]) proposal to treat colours ‎as a cultural unit; 2. Hebrew text of the Old Testament with short information on Hebrew ‎grammar and spelling (Hebrew alphabet has no capital letters, and no letters for vocals); 3. ‎Facts on the derivation of Hebrew root ‎שחר‎ – black ‎שחר‎ [shahòr], dawn [shàhar]; 4. Comment ‎on Hebrew world view 5. Cultural unit BLACK includes not only Basic colour terms (BCT) but ‎objects with typical colour, e.g. Prototypes terms ‎‏)‏PT‏(‏‎ as defined by Rosch (1972; 1973) and ‎the addition of Wierzbicka (1990), e.g. darkness, blood, sky, etc., and Rivals of prototypes ‎‎(RT), e.g. linen, ruby, cherry; strawberry, etc. See Almalech 2011. This approach ensures the full ‎textual, psychological, symbolic and cultural presence of Black through the Old Testament; ‎‎6. Comment on translations of Hebrew BCT and PT in Indo-European languages as black, ‎become black; 7. Comment on the fact that BCT black is used only nine times in the ‎Hebrew Bible; 8. The links between the Old and New Testaments regarding the symbolism ‎of black. ‎