Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lisbeth S. Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>]

Dear Robert,
I don't know what the "tents of the Apadana" are that Daniel is talking
about, but the Apadana is the great audience hall in Persepolis that was
begun by Darius and finished by his son Xerxes. Perhaps the word came to
mean "audience hall." The one in Persepolis is not a tent of course, it is a
monumental building with 100 columns and huge stone staircases carved with
fabulous reliefs. A search on the web will bring up pictures of it.
As far as Persian loan words go, another one is the word that is customarily
translated "law" in Daniel. It is the Persian word  "dat." It also appears
in Ezra 7:26. It has entered modern Hebrew as "dati" to describe anyone who
keeps the mitzvoth, the commandments. 
Best,
Liz Fried

> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-hebrew-
> bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Robert Dee
> Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 10:57 PM
> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [b-hebrew] 'appeden - "Persian Loan Word"
> 
> Dear Herman and Peter
> 
> First, thank you very much for your response. The points you both made
didn't
> really occur to me.
> And I have to say to that this is one of those questions where I'm not
really sure if
> there is
> anything there to notice or not. I guess I need to try to refine my
question a little bit.
> 
> Let's see if this helps some.
> 
> Various translations of this read:
> 
>     "Tents of his palace"  (YLT)
>     "Royal tents" (NCV)
>     "Royal pavilion"  (NAB, Goodspeed)
>     "Royal headquarters"  (JB)
> 
> A commentary edited by F F Bruce says: "Heb[rew] uses a Persian word
describing
> the great
> audience halls of the Achaemenid kings known at Persepolis and Susa."
> 
> I also know that, unlike modern times, kings in the past often accompanied
their
> forces on
> campaigns. So the tents for their personal entourage would normally be in
the
> midst of the
> rest of the military force encampment as a matter of course.
> 
> So why not say that he would pitch "his tents." What does 'appeden add to
this? (if
> anything)
> 
> I was wondering if their might be some history to the word that would add
some
> significance.
> Still, like you said, it might just be Daniel's way of describing it.
(Although, in
> actuality, these are
> the words of the angel speaking to Daniel. So it wouldn't necessarily be a
case
> where that
> was the way he was used to saying it - the angel, that is. [Compare 1Co
13:1] He
> was
> telling Daniel to record it that way.)
> 
> And even if their isn't anything more than that, I don't consider it a
waste to ask. If
> you were searching
> a field for treasure, all the rocks that you looked under that didn't have
anything
> there - you would
> at least be benefitting from the process of elimination.
> 
> Thank you again for your appreciated expertise
> Robert J Dee
> Walthourville, Ga, USA
> 
> 
> On 03/02/2006, Herman Meester  and Peter Kirk wrote:
> 
> > Dear Robert,
> >
> > I'm not sure if I understand your question. The text of Daniel, both
> > in the Hebrew and Aramaic parts, has plenty of loan words. A Persian
> > loan word, in my view, has nothing to do -as far as prophecy is
> > concerned- with the Persian empire.
> > If there is only one available etymology for *'appeden (a word that is
> > only attested in constructs), then that's that. The problem is that
> > we'd never know if the fact that it's a loanword meant anything to the
> > writer of the text at all, if the writer knew/realised that in the
> > first place.
> > I guess the writer thought this word expressed the idea (s)he had in
> > the best manner possible.
> >
> >
> > Indeed. When we use words like "paradise" and "orange" in English, both
> > Persian loan words, we don't have in mind the Persian Empire or the
> > Islamic Republic of Iran. They are just English words.
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