Judy Ritchie wrote,
<< What happened to the word "suckle?"  The infants and young children
 were the "suckling(s)."  This is the language of Biblical scripture.

 It is the same definition in Hungarian phonetically (sop' tat.)  There
 is no question from *suckle* that it's from the breast or specifically,
 the teat.  No confusion with bottling whatsoever.  >>


Alas, I must disagree.  The languages of biblical scripture are Hebrew and, I
think, Greek.

In Hebrew the word you are looking at  is _yoneq_.  It means "to suck and
receive sustenance," and it certainly usually refers to the breast, in both
Biblical and modern hebrew.  But it's also the same word that appears in the
Psalms in the frame, "I gave him to suck honey from the rock."   So not
always-always the breast.

Esther or Yael or Bracha or others, in modern Hebrew what word do people use
for non-breast infant feeding? Do they say _yoneq_ -- that is, suckle; or
_shoteh_, drink?  or other?

Elisheva
always up for etymology

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