Shamayim - plural or duel?

[Calminian]

I had always understood it to be plural (or to at least have a plural ending) but now I'm learning that 'ayim' is actually a dual ending. Yet I never see it translated "two heavens." Did the hebrew reader ever see this as a duel word? Or heavens being dual in nature?

[BookerG]

The two explanations I've heard or read are, that it is a simple im ending on the singular root shamai. Or that ayim is sometimes a toponymic ending, indicating a place name like Yerushalaim, Mitzraim, Ephraim.

[headheart]

This should be interesting.

[Calminian]

The two explanations I've heard or read are, that it is a simple im ending on the singular root shamai. Or that ayim is sometimes a toponymic ending, indicating a place name like Yerushalaim, Mitzraim, Ephraim.

That makes sense, I suppose. These are proper names just as Heaven is.

[John Reece]

I had always understood it to be plural (or to at least have a plural ending) but now I'm learning that 'ayim' is actually a dual ending. Yet I never see it translated "two heavens." Did the hebrew reader ever see this as a duel word? Or heavens being dual in nature?

From THE HEBREW AND ARAMAIC LEXICON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, BY LUDWIG KOEHLER AND WALTER BAUMGARTNER (HALOT):

C. forms: ‏שָׁמַיִם‎ apparently a dual, but in reality a plural, see Gesenius-Kautzsch Gramm. §88d; Joüon Gr. §91f; Meyer Gramm. §58 no. 18; Michel Grundl. 1: 87f: plural of spatial extension; ‏שָׁמַיִם‎ Secunda σαμμαϊμ Ps 8930 (Brönno Morph. 183); ‏שָׁמָיִם‎, cstr. ‏שְׁמֵי‎, sf. ‏שָׁמֶיךָ‎, ‏שָׁמָיו‎, ‏שְׁמֵיכֶם‎, locative ‏הַשָּׂמַיְמָה‎, ‏הַשָּׁמָיְמָה‎ (often construed as a plural): heaven, sky, the apparent roof of the sky, atmosphere (420 times).

From Gesenius-Kautzsch Grammar. §88d:

Only apparently dual forms (but really plural) are the words ‏מַיִם water and ‏שָׁמַיִם heaven. According to P. Haupt in SBOT, (critical notes on Isaiah, p. 157, line 18ff.), they are to be derived from the old plural forms (found in Assyrian) mámí, šamámi, whence the Hebrew ‏מים and ‏שׁמים arose by inversion of the i, mâmi, mâimi, maim. It is simpler, however to suppose that the primitive singulars may and šmay, when they took the plural of extension (...) kept the tone on the ay, thus causing the im (which otherwise always has the tone, ...) to a shortened im.

From Joüon Grammar §91f:

What we have in ‏מַיִם water, waters and ‏שָׁמַיִם sky, skies is not a dual but an abnormal plural. In these two words the original plural ending -īm has been reduced to -im under the influence of stress.

[Jedidiah]

Keep in mind that when you read shamayim erets it needs to be recognized as a merism. It refers to the entire universe, not just to parts of it.

[Calminian]

From THE HEBREW AND ARAMAIC LEXICON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, BY LUDWIG KOEHLER AND WALTER BAUMGARTNER (HALOT):

C. forms: ‏שָׁמַיִם‎ apparently a dual, but in reality a plural, see Gesenius-Kautzsch Gramm. §88d; Joüon Gr. §91f; Meyer Gramm. §58 no. 18; Michel Grundl. 1: 87f: plural of spatial extension; ‏שָׁמַיִם‎ Secunda σαμμαϊμ Ps 8930 (Brönno Morph. 183); ‏שָׁמָיִם‎, cstr. ‏שְׁמֵי‎, sf. ‏שָׁמֶיךָ‎, ‏שָׁמָיו‎, ‏שְׁמֵיכֶם‎, locative ‏הַשָּׂמַיְמָה‎, ‏הַשָּׁמָיְמָה‎ (often construed as a plural): heaven, sky, the apparent roof of the sky, atmosphere (420 times).

From Gesenius-Kautzsch Grammar. §88d:

Only apparently dual forms (but really plural) are the words ‏מַיִם water and ‏שָׁמַיִם heaven. According to P. Haupt in SBOT, (critical notes on Isaiah, p. 157, line 18ff.), they are to be derived from the old plural forms (found in Assyrian) mámí, šamámi, whence the Hebrew ‏מים and ‏שׁמים arose by inversion of the i, mâmi, mâimi, maim. It is simpler, however to suppose that the primitive singulars may and šmay, when they took the plural of extension (...) kept the tone on the ay, thus causing the im (which otherwise always has the tone, ...) to a shortened im.

From Joüon Grammar §91f:

What we have in ‏מַיִם water, waters and ‏שָׁמַיִם sky, skies is not a dual but an abnormal plural. In these two words the original plural ending -īm has been reduced to -im under the influence of stress.

That just about sums it up. Thank you.

[Chabr'il]

Look to the Psalms: הַשָּׁמַיִם, מְסַפְּרִים כְּבוֹד-אֵל The HEAVENS declare the glory of God. In Semitic thought, there are represented multiple layers of heaven. Based upon the level of righteousness, a soul ascends to a higher level. The throne of God is considered in Hebraic thought, to reside in the highest, araboth.

Vilon (וילון)
Raki'a (רקיע)
Shehaqim (שחקים)
Zebul (זבול)
Ma'on (מעון)
Machon (מכון)
Araboth (ערבות)