Hebrew

Noun

בַּעַל • ‎(bá`al) m ‎(plural indefinite בְּעָלִים, singular construct בַּעַל־, plural construct בַּעֲלֵי־, feminine counterpart בַּעֲלָה) [pattern: קֶטֶל]

1. Master, owner.
2. Husband, male spouse.

Declension

Usage notes

• To avoid any ambiguity or hint of sexism, most modern speakers keep the two senses of בעל strictly distinct as follows:
  • When בעל has the sense of husband, it is always inflected to indicate a possessor. In the case that its possessor is not a personal pronoun, this produces some redundancy; for example, "Miriam's husband" is translated as בעלה של מרים ‎(ba`aláh shel Miryam), which literally means "her-husband of Miriam". (This sort of construction can occur with other nouns as well, but usually only in more formal contexts.)
  • When בעל has the sense of owner, it is never so inflected.
• However, some speakers do consider it sexist to use בעל with the sense of husband after all, instead preferring the word איש ‎('ish, “man”), as it is more directly analogous to the word אישה ‎('isháh, “woman, wife”).

Descendants

• Yiddish: בעל־הבית ‎(balebos)

See also

• אָדוֹן

Verb

בָּעַל • ‎(ba'ál) ‎(pa'al construction)

1. (dated) to have sexual intercourse
   • a. 500 CE, Babylonian Talmud, Chagigah 15:a:

     יכול אני לבעול כמה בעילות בלא דם‎

     "I can have intercourse multiple times without [causing] bleeding."

Proper noun

בַּעַל • ‎(bá'al) m [pattern: קֶטֶל]

1. Baal, a Canaanite deity.

Descendants

• English: Baal

References

• “H1168”, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979

Anagrams

• בלע