Is ùh (the Day of the Lord) a Term in Biblical Language? µ/y Y. Hoffmann in his article “The Day of the Lord as a Concept and a Term in the Prophetic Literature” demands that every discussion of this subject start with “those passages that specifically use this phrase [i.e. ùh µ/y – ‘The Day of the Lord’]” (1) rather than any other variation of it: wpa ˆwrj µwy(b) – ‘(On) the Day of His fierce anger’, wpa µwy – ‘The Day of His anger’, ùh πa µwy – ‘The Day of the Lord’s anger’, ùhl hswbmw hkwbmw hmwhm µwy – ‘The Lord’s Day of tumult, confusion and trampling’, and µyhla ùhl awhh µwyhw – ‘That Day is the Lord’s’. Hoffmann goes so far as to invalidate the conclusions of scholars who do not base their researches on that point of departure. His demand stems from the statement that the collocation ùh µ/y (The Day of the Lord, YHWH’s Day) is a term in Biblical language. This article aims to examine this statement and consequently the demand stemming from it. The examination will consider both linguistic and philological aspects. What is a term, and what are its characteristics? A term is one, specific and unchanged expression referring to one, specific and unchanged concept. The hearer, when he hears a term, thinks about one specific concept; on the other side, the speaker, when he wants to refer to that specific concept, can do it by that expression alone. The expression referring to that concept, at the time of its birth, qualifies more or less its characteristics or its most characteristic nature. Later, however, when it becomes a term, it is not changed anymore; even if part of its characteristics undergo a transformation, and even if it is the characteristic, that gave rise to the term that undergoes the transformation, the term is fixed. As long as the concept (in any transformation) is referred to by that specific expression, it is that specific expression and only that specific expression, that refers to it — to say it in de Saussure’s terminology: one specific and unchanged signifiant to one specific and unchanged signifié. Let us take for example the term ‘The Olympic Games’: when they took place in ancient Greece, they were held in Olympia, and that place was their prominent characteristic. Today they are held in different cities, but nevertheless they cling obstinately to their name. On the other hand, other games today, even if held in Olympia, are not Olympic games (2). 1. The meaning of the constructive ‘Day of the Lord’ The first task of this article is to understand the exact literal meaning of the Hebrew collocation ùh µ/y (‘The Day of the Lord’). This collocation is a (1) ZAW 93 (1981) 38: “It seems that any conclusion about the phrase ùh µ/y reached by such a procedure is unreliable” (p. 38). (2) Another example is ‘Secretary General’; The linguistically interesting aspect of this term is that it deviates from the rules of the English grammar, nevertheless, as it is a term, the wording of the collocation is kept with no change.