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Re: orion Essenes = 'osey hatorah?





"David W. Suter" wrote:
> 
> stephen goranson wrote:
> 
> > First, Hebrew is a more likely source for self-designation of Essenes,
> > as the torah is in Hebrew. Second, both of these Aramaic proposals can
> > be shown to have arisen in the history of scholarship as
> > misunderstandings, misunderstandings, e.g., of Maccabees and of De Vita
> > Contemplativa. Third,  I do not think 4QAramaic Levi does include this
> > Aramaic root. (In the orion archives, this was discussed by Robert
> > Kugler, Michael Stone, and others.) Even if one concludes it does
> > appear in that little fragment, that is merely once.
> 
> Another consideration:  if 4QAramaic Levi does contain the root, does
> Levi's likely place in the entire collection tell us anything about
> whether the presence of a root is likely to shed light on the self
> designation of the group?  I tend to associate 4QAramaic Levi with
> Aramaic Enoch as literature produced prior to the distinctive body of
> literature unique to the scroll collection, of a related perspective but
> perhaps inherited by the group that produced the later work.  Should one
> look to such a document for the self-designation of the group that
> produced the distinctive body of literature?  Does the preference for
> Hebrew in that body of literature suggest anything about the language of
> any potential self-designation -- aside from the fact that the Torah is
> in Hebrew?

According to Cross, 4QTLev ar^b; PAM 43.242 reads:

mtmx) $m xsyn mn kwl $mh) wl)

"..and the name of his holy one not blotted out from all names."

This seems to confirm the use of the East Aramaic "hasen" but
Steve Goranson said something about a misunderstanding here
which has me interested.  If "Essene" was not as much a self-
designation as a popular designation It could explain the
source as an Aramaic, rather than a Hebrew, word.  If Murphy-
O'Connor also has some merit regarding Essene Origins in
the east (Babylon) it could also explain the source as
Eastern Aramaic.

Jack

-- 
______________________________________________

taybutheh d'maran yeshua masheecha am kulkon

Jack Kilmon
jkilmon@historian.net

http://www.historian.net
For private reply, e-mail to Jack Kilmon <jkilmon@historian.net>
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