Philologos on Sabbath and Shavuot

PHILOLOGOS, true to name, provides a good dose of philology for Sabbath and impending Shavuot:

Shabbat by Way of Babylon
On Language

By Philologos (The Forward)
Published June 01, 2011, issue of June 10, 2011.

The holiday of Shavuot has arrived — and with it, a d’var Torah, a commentary on a biblical passage, customarily delivered by a rabbi or member of a congregation, from Edward Reingold of Michiana, Mich. For his subject, Mr. Reingold has chosen the verses in Leviticus 23 that tell us when Shavuot is to be celebrated — that is, seven weeks plus a day, or 50 days, from the commencement of the Omer, the “sheaf-offering” of the barley harvest that begins during the week of Passover. (This is why the holiday is called ḥag ha-shavu’ot, “the feast of weeks,” in Hebrew, and Pentecost, from Greek pentekoste, “fiftieth,” in English.) Leviticus 23:10-11 reads, in the Jewish Publication Society translation: “When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its [barley] harvest, you shall bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest. He shall elevate the sheaf before the Lord for acceptance in your behalf; the priest shall elevate it on the day after the Sabbath.”

“The day after the Sabbath” is a straightforward translation of biblical Hebrew’s mi-moḥarat ha-shabbat — and yet, as Mr. Reingold observes in his d’var Torah, the meaning of these words is anything but straightforward. Within the context of the week of Passover, what “Sabbath” is the Bible talking about? And how, unless we know, can we start counting the 50 days that determine the date of Shavuot?

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It's complicated.