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Definition 2024


בעל

בעל

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

See also

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

References

Anagrams