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Re: orion-list Re: self-definition
Russell Gmirkin wrote:
>Ann L. Kraemer's comments all seem to be squarely on target.
But those comments included assertions that we should focus on
statistics for etymology. Hasidim cannot come into Greek as
Essaioi/Essenoi/Esenoi, Ossenoi, etc., or Latin as Esseni. Therefore,
Gmirkin is arguing for an Aramaic source (the one, by the way, that
Bergmeier just abandoned). Yet that Aramaic (xasayya) appears at Qumran
zero times. [The Aramaic Levi proposal we discussed before.] Osios can be
translated "inclination to observe divine law." No one supplied any
examples of any Greek term with -hnoi and -aioi endings which are known to
have come from the Aramaic absolute and emphatic states which are so often
presented as if evidence.
Gmirkin wrote of "the common phrase 'doers of the law'." Let me
restate, more explicitly, what I wrote recently before. In the Microfiche
set "The Academy of the Hebrew Language, The Historical Dictionary of the
Hebrew Language, Materials for the Dictionary, Series I, 200 B.C.E.--300
C.E." (Jerusalem, 1988 [Ma'agarim; now available on CD, I think]) 14848 to
14902, which includes Mishna, Tosephta, some Midrashim, and Qumran texts
then available, includes appearances of the precise collocation 'osey
hatorah. The total of all non-Qumran usages of 'osey hatorah there--and in
TaNaK--is zero. Zero.
I am not aware of anyone who accepts Gmirkin's datings of the
Qumran sectarian texts. The late book Josippon we have discussed before
(including my post of the 24/4/98). The books of Maccabees are still absent
from Qumran.
sincerely,
Stephen Goranson
goranson@duke.edu
706 Louise Circle Apt. J
Durham NC 27705
For private reply, e-mail to stephen goranson <goranson@duke.edu>
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