Dear Franz:
It's not out of the question that "elohim" was known to some medieval
Christians as the plural form, though I'm not sure Jerome knew it.
Isidore, who seems to crib from Jerome on the "10 names of God" lore in
Book VII of the _Etymologiarum_ doesn't record that "Eloi" is plural; nor
does Cassiodorus (see his comment on Ps 104).
On the other hand, amongst the "Dubia et Spuria" of Bede included in PL
93, the _Quaestionum super Genesim ex dictis Patrum Dialogus_ notes in
re: Gen. 4
"Verbum Hebraicum Elohim communis est numeri, et Deus quippe et dii
similiter."
I've no idea what the _nachleben_ of this work might have been, however.
One 12th century Christian commentator definitely knew that "elohim" was
plural: Herbert of Bosham, whose commentary on the psalter I'm working
on, says in several that "elohim" is the plural of "el", although he also
asserts that "el elohim" should be understood as the equivalent of "deus
deorum," i.e., that elohim is the equivalent of the genitive plural. But
then Herbert was unusual in his knowledge of Hebrew....
Not surprisingly (since he was an apostate/convert), Peter Alfonsi talks
about "elohim" being plural in his discussion of the Trinity (in Titulus
IV of his _Dialogue_); perhaps this comes up in some of the other
_adversus iudaeos_ literature.
You might want to take a look at the Gibson/Froelich facsimile edition of
the Gloss on the last verse of Ps 8; this seems to be a locus where
Christian discussion of the divine name(s) often centered.
My off-hand guess would be that such information would be unusual but not
impossible for Christians to have -- especially by the 13th century (and
maybe sooner, if there's anything in the Gloss, or something in Jerome
that I've missed, or if Bede's work was widely disseminated).
Cheers,
--Deborah Goodwin
Deborah L. Goodwin "Don't talk to
me of the Duke of Monmouth.
Department of Theology Show me the exact
spot where Louisa
University of Notre Dame Musgrove fell!"
Tennyson.
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