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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] furtive patah (was Re: 2Ki 2:10)

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>
  • To: Yitzhak Sapir <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: B Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] furtive patah (was Re: 2Ki 2:10)
  • Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2007 23:06:52 +0000

On 24/02/2007 21:45, Yitzhak Sapir wrote:
...
The evidence from the word Messias is scant. I am curious even to know
when it is first attested (that is, the earliest copy of the NT where
it is found). ...

The Greek word MESSIAS is found in just two places in the New Testament, both in John's gospel, 1:41 and 4:25. (CRISTOS is the much more common Greek word with the same meaning; in both of these places MESSIAS is further explained as CRISTOS.) Both of these verses are attested in the papyrus P66 from c. 200 CE, which may be the oldest evidence for this form. But there are no relevant textual variants, and so no reason to think that the word is any later than the original authorship of John, which, from surviving fragments, was certainly before 120 CE and traditionally a little before 100 CE. I do not immediately know whether this is the oldest extant example of the Greek word MESSIAS. This word is not listed in LSJ (at Perseus), presumably because it is understood as a proper name. It is not found in LXX, but was it found in any of the "intertestamental literature" or among the DSS? Also, is there any evidence of an alternative form without a "furtive patah"? I note that Jerome's Vulgate (4th century CE) has MESSIAS.

... While one recognizes an apparent patah in the end, the word itself seems
to
exhibit a different noun form (q-ttil) rather than that recognized in Hebrew
(q-ti:l). That is, we notice first the gemination of the letter Shin.
Secondly, the
first vowel is transcribed as an epsilon. An epsilon was used to transcribe
short i and e (tsere). Thus, we have a difference of quality (i/e instead of
patah/qamats) and a difference of quantity (short vs long) from the Hebrew
word's initial vowel. The issue of the gemination can be probably considered
an internal Greek development. According to:
http://www-user.uni-bremen.de/~wie/TCG/TC-John.pdf (p. 42, TVU 17),
there are variants where the gemination does not appear. ...

Thanks for the interesting link. The Byzantine text does indeed have MESIAS rather than MESSIAS in both places. But it would be very surprising if this were original. The word is well attested in many much earlier MSS, and translations such as the Vulgate, with the double consonant.

... Now, in an article
on the short vowels in the second column of the Hexapla, Alexey Yuditsky
notes transcriptions of the word with suffixes in Hebrew as mesiw. ...

I guess this corresponds to Hebrew M:$IYXOW, with sheva, in e.g. Psalm 2:2. Now I know that sheva is commonly represented in Greek by alpha, but this is clear evidence that it could be represented as epsilon.

This kind of change is not unique. I note for example EMMWR (Acts 7:16) for Hamor of Shechem.

... (He also
notes a Hieronymus transcription of "messio"). Yuditsky argues that the first
vowel (a short "a" in Tiberian Hebrew) assimilated to the sibilant nearby to
become epsilon. We can argue the same for the word Messias. That is, the
word Messias in the Greek represents a short assimilated patah in the first
vowel and no gemination in the second letter. Now, while Hebrew had a long
first vowel in this word, the Aramaic cognate ma$i:xa: did not. In fact, the
transcription Mesias appears to match the Aramaic perfectly. There is no
reason to suggest then that the word Messias in the NT shows evidence of
a patah.

This does seem to be a possible alternative explanation. I note that this would only work with an Aramaic common noun which could take the definite suffix. A proper name would not have this suffix, and so if we could find in Greek, for example in the New Testament or in Josephus, a proper name with an -IAS type ending where there might be a furtive patah in Hebrew, this would prove that furtive patah was pronounced at the time these books were written.

And here is an example of that: Noah, NWE in Greek (LXX, NT and probably elsewhere) with epsilon where a furtive patah might be expected. This name is of course much more common as well as more consistent than your Abishua example. Also hWSHE (LXX, NT) for the prophet Hosea and the king Hoshea, HOW$"A(. But then IEFQAE (Q=theta) for Jephthah suggests that the epsilon may have been more an attempt to write something for a word final het. I note also Greek SILWAM (LXX and NT) for the pool of Siloam or, in Isaiah 8:6, Shiloah, $ILOAX. modern Arabic Silwaan, but here the M as well as the A needs explanation.

I note that the English form "Messiah" implies that the word comes from the Hebrew. If your hypothesis is correct, it should be re-spelled "Messiha".

--
Peter Kirk
E-mail: peter AT qaya.org
Blog: http://www.qaya.org/blog/
Website: http://www.qaya.org/





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