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  • From: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Bethsaida
  • Date: Sun, 01 Feb 2009 09:47:08 +0200

It is often assumed that Beth-saida means "House of the hunters", with the form being Aramaic rather than Hebrew. Assuming the site to be on or near the Sea of Galilee, the "hunters" would actually be fishermen. "Sidon", the well-know Pheonician port, would be dirived from the same word.

Rami Arav, who for years has been excavating a major site just north of the Sea of Galilee which he identifies as Bethsaida, has also suggested that the "Ziddim Zer" (the Z here stands for Sade, as in Beth-saida and in Sidon) mentioned in Josh 19:35 in the inheretance of Naphtali, is the Iron Age form of the same name, perhaps originally "Hacayyadim".

Yigal Levin
----- Original Message ----- From: <JBarach AT aol.com>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2009 3:39 AM
Subject: [b-hebrew] Bethsaida



BHaverim --

What does the name "Bethsaida" mean? "Beth," obviously, means "house." But
what about the "Saida"? I'm not even sure what the Hebrew root word here
might be. One commentary I have says it means "House of Provisioning" (Austin
Farrer) and another says "House of Fishermen" (John Donahue & Daniel
Harrington) -- and all the rest that I have say nothing about the meaning of the name
at all.

I'd be glad to hear what you think. (I ask this on the B-Hebrew list, even
though "Bethsaida" appears only in the Greek, because it's obvious a Hebrew
name. Hope this isn't a problem.)

Thanks in advance!

John



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