"Lost" in translation.

[billvon]

"...the young girls who have never known a man..." is the phrase I remember. If a girl got raped she was deemed "damaged goods" and would probably stay at home as a virtual slave to her family. (Just as bad as being a slave to some nonfamilial guy without having to shit out babies once a year for a few decades (worst case).

Yeah, that particular translation (to English) comes from Numbers 31 I believe. It's both an example of how the word for "virgin" (בְּתוּלָה) was translated, and an example of how odious some parts of the Bible are:

"Moses was angry with the officers of the army, with the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, who had come from the battle. And Moses said to them: 'Have you kept all the women alive? Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man intimately. But keep alive for yourselves all the young girls who have not known a man intimately.' " (NKJV translation)

"Kill all the kids, kill all the women - except for the virgins; keep them for your own use" is not a great message IMO.

 

[geordief]

That’s an interesting distinction. Maiden in English usage is often taken to be synonymous with virgin, cf. maidenhead. What meaning did it have in Greek or Hebrew?

I also posted your question in the Greek language forum that I sometimes consult

Is there a word for "maiden" ?

On a different forum someone is asking whether the english word "maiden" has an exact equivalent elsewhere. It encapsulates the two idea of both "young woman" and "virgin" I said that I didn't think that "koρe" (which he knows from the kouρos/koρη statues meant more than just "young...

latindiscussion.org

You are welcome to examine their understandings.