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Ancient Names for Hebrew and Aramaic: A Case for Lexical Revision
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 May 2019
Abstract
The view expressed in BDAG that Hebrais refers not to Hebrew but to ‘the Aramaic spoken at that time in Palestine’ derives from a century-old argument that because Hebrais could mean either Aramaic or Hebrew, and since the average person could not understand Hebrew, Hebrais must mean Aramaic. This article challenges the view that Hebrais(ti) could mean Aramaic (1) by using an exhaustive list of all instances to show that Aramaic was consistently distinguished from Hebrew, and (2) by explaining the evidence to the contrary: Aramaic-looking words in John, Josephus and Philo that are said to be Hebraisti.
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References
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18 The reading בית {א}אשדׄתׄין in 3Q15 xi, 12 would favour Bethesda as the toponym (Metzger, B. M., A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1994) 178Google Scholar para. John 5:2), but this reading has been improved since Milik first suggested it, to בית א\האשוחין ‘house of waterworks’ so that it no longer matches βηθεσδα (Ceulemans, R., ‘The Name of the Pool in Joh 5,2: A Text-Critical Note concerning 3Q15’, ZNW 99 (2007) 112–15CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Buth and Pierce suggest Hebrew or Aramaic (בית ציד(א) (‘house of fishing/hunting’; 101) or (בית זית(א) (‘house of an olive tree/orchard’) or (בית חדס(א) (‘house of grace’) or בית אסטין (‘house of the colonnade/portico’), supported by 3Q15 ix, 2 האסטאן (Buth and Pierce, ‘Hebraisti’, 100–4.)
19 For etymology, Buth and Pierce prefer a Latin loanword gabata (‘platter’) rather than Dalman's original גבתא, revised to גבחתא ‘bald spot’, or to Hebrew גבה ‘eyebrow = ridge’ with directive ‘he’, גבתה (Buth and Pierce, ‘Hebraisti’, 104–7.)
20 Buth and Pierce note that Golgotha is both Hebrew and Aramaic for ‘skull’, גלגלת (‘Hebraisti’, 107).
21 The pronunciation Rabbouni reflects the Western vocalisation in Hebrew and Aramaic, as shown by the Cairo Genizah fragments of the Palestinian Targum, and Codex Kaufmann 3.10 (m. Ta‘an. 3.8). The pronunciation Ribboni reflects the Eastern (Babylonian) vocalisation as given in the printed editions of the Targums and Mishnah. Buth and Pierce point to Kutscher, E. Y., ‘Mishnaic Hebrew’, Meḥḳarim beʻIvrit u-ve-ʼaramit (ed. Ben-Ḥayyim, Z., Dotan, A. and Sarfatti, G. B.; Jerusalem: Magnes, 1977) 73–107Google Scholar.
22 This is the position of Beattie and Davies, ‘What Does Hebrew Mean?’
23 Porten, B. and Yardeni, A., Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt: Literature, Accounts, Lists (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1989) sec. B2: SUB 3 side 1 l. 2Google Scholar.
24 Although the forms of speech used in various parts of Levant in the Assyrian period is an interesting question, my argument does not depend on whether Hebrew was a distinct language in the eighth century when this story is set. On this question, see Knauf, E. A., ‘War “Biblisch-Hebräisch” eine Sprache?’, ZAH 3 (1990):11–23Google Scholar. My argument is restricted to whether Hebrais(ti) ever referred to (a form of) Aramaic.
25 The partially extant Hebrew text of Ben Sira confirms that the original language was Hebrew rather than Aramaic. Note also that the epilogue to Greek Job 42.17b refers to a Συριακῇ ‘Syriac’ book about Job.
26 Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo. 15, 27, PL 35.302.
27 Origen, Homiliae in Job (Pitra, J. B., Analecta sacra spicilegio Solesmensi parata, vol. ii (Paris: Tusculum, 1884) 390–1Google Scholar); trans. mine.
28 For example, καββᾶ γὰρ ἑρμηνεύεται πορνεία κατὰ τὴν Συριακὴν διάλεκτον, φονοκτονία δὲ κατὰ τὴν Ἑβραϊκήν (Pan. 26.2.3)
29 τοῦ τῆς Πύρρας ὀνόματος, Νωρίαν ταύτην ὀνομάζοντες. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ νοῦρα ἐν τῇ ̔Εβραΐδι πῦρ οὐ κατὰ τὴν βαθεῖαν γλῶσσαν ἑρμηνεύεται ἀλλὰ Συριακῇ διαλέκτῳ (ἡσὰθ γὰρ τὸ πῦρ παρὰ ̔Εβραίοις καλεῖται κατὰ τὴν βαθεῖαν γλῶσσαν). The evidence of Epiphanius is significant because he was probably one of the few Christian authors who knew Aramaic and Hebrew. See J. Wilder, ‘Epiphanius as a Hebraist: A Study of the Hebrew Learning of Epiphanius of Salamis’ (PhD diss., Toronto: University of St. Michael's College, 2017). Other relevant statements by Epiphanius include his explanation of Jesus’ last words on the cross, in which he distinguished Aramaic from Hebrew (Pan. 69.19.5). He said that Jesus prophesied in Hebrew from the cross (κατὰ τὴν Ἑβραϊκὴν διάλεκτον ‘ἠλί, ἠλί, λημᾶ σαβαχθανί’), but noted that although ‘ἠλί, ἠλί’ is Hebrew (Ἑβραϊκῇ τῇ λέξει), the rest (‘λημᾶ σαβαχθανί’) is Aramaic (Συριακῇ διαλέκτῳ).
30 I am indebted to James David Audlin for this observation.
31 Danker, Bauer and Arndt, A Greek–English Lexicon, s.v. Ἑβραΐς.
32 Buth and Pierce, ‘Hebraisti', 66–109.