In <
f0304d77-2e49-430c...@googlegroups.com>, DKleinecke
Yes, the tranlsations are just rough guides.
One translation that is an error as pointed out in reviews of the book
and by me is the translation miSr(un) in Baqara 2:61 ihbiTu: miSran as
"Egypt". miSr in this case is triptote (and masculine) - affirmed by
the alif of the accusative and means "frontier town" (which shortly
after was generalized to "metropolis") << Go down to a frontier town
(or more generally "settled country")>> rather than << Go down to Egypt
... >> which would be the case if it were diptote (and feminine) as
miSr(u) as "Egypt" occurs elsewhere in the Qur'an. The context is the
wandering Israelites complaining about the lack of variety of food in
the desert, Moses rebukes them saying for that one would go to a town.
So there is some irony in the choice of words, as they were escaping
Egypt.
For ancient Semitic people Egypt was the frontier par excellence, hence
the naming of the country by them.