Ultimate Horcrux

[Neri]

> Caius Marcius said:
> > The Hebrew commandment "Thou shalt not kill" is improperly 
> > translated - it should read "Thou shalt not murder" - or more 
> > idiomatically, "Don't murder!"  Hebrew scripture distinguishes 
> > murder, which is unacceptable, from killing, which is the 
> > acceptable taking of a life under certain sanctioned conditions...

> Judy:
> The Hebrew commandment here reads (after vowels are added), "lo 
> tirtzach."  "Lo" is easy to translate -- it means "no" 
> or "don't." "Tirtzach" is more difficult; many people translate it 
> here as "murder," but in other contexts, it seems to mean "kill" or 
> even "shed blood."  
> 
> In general, knowing the exact meaning of the original Hebrew 
> scriptures is very difficult.  So much time has elapsed that in some 
> cases, there is difficultly figuring out whether the version that has 
> come down to us was the original.  An even bigger problem is that the 
> original Hebrew was written without any vowels.  Semitic languages 
> such as Hebrew and Arabic are based on roots of three consonants, to 
> which vowels are added to produce words with different, but related, 
> meanings. So, the root M-L-Ch, which shows up a lot in Hebrew 
> prayers, can mean king, kingdom, majesty, has ruled, will rule, etc.  
> Context must be used to infer which vowels, and therefore which 
> meaning, were intended. So, it's possible that the root used in the 
> commandment "lo tirtzach" actually means something different when it 
> appears again in the Scriptures, even if it is spelled the same.  
> Bottom line:  I don't think we can tell if "lo tirtzach" means "Don't 
> Kill" or "Don't Murder."
> 

Neri:
To my best knowledge as a Hebrew speaker, the root R-TZ-CH (that is
used in the commandment `Loh tirtzach") *always* means "murderer" or
"to murder" and *never* killing that isn't murder. At least I'm
certain about that in regard to modern Hebrew, slightly less so in
regard to biblical Hebrew since I'm hardly an expert. However, check
for example Numbers 35 which defines precisely, according to the
ancient Israelite law, the difference between murder and manslaughter.
At least in the New King James Translation I checked here:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=4&chapter=35&version=50

"murderer" is consistently translated from "RoTZeaCH", while
"manslayer" is translated from "makeh nefesh" (literally: one who
strikes a soul) or alternatively from "makeh nefesh bishgaga" (one who
strikes a soul by mistake). So while I definitely agree that it's
frequently difficult to interpret Hebrew scripture, and that Semitic
roots often have several meanings, in this specific case CMC is quite
right: "Loh tirtzach" means precisely "do not murder".

Neri