Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Randall Buth <randallbuth AT gmail.com>]

>are there any
>examples of replacement names to go onto an unchanged calendar within an
> unchanged language? I don’t know of any.

Changing the names would seem to be changing the calendar. To go from
numbers to names and
from names to numbers can be called a calendar change. We have
examples of both directions within and outside the Hebrew canon. The
interpretation of a calendar, the extra months, and the comparison
with a full solar calendar where all unresolved and flucuating issues
in antiquity. One of the benefits of the Persian/Babylonian system was
its widespread stability in comparison to the parallel Greek/Athenian
systems.

For an example of name changing, look at Greek:
Greek used a different policy in different areas, they adopted
Egyptian names in Egypt.

But when the Romans were ruling, in other areas like
Judea
we have Greeks using names like IANOYARIOS, MARTIOS, APRILIOS, MAIOS,
IOYLIOS, AYGOYSTOS, SEPTEMBRIOS, OKTWBRIOS, DEKEMBRIOS. (See the Greek
documents among the Judean Desert discoveries. Even if you don't know
Greek, you should recognize these names.) Greek was still a living
language, but the Romans were ruling and the Greeks changed their
month names.

The principle appears to be that the ruling authorities and courts
decided the names. For the Persian empire, that was the Babylonian
naming system.  Ezra, Nehemiah, and others were all good citizens of
the 'great king'.

-- 
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicalulpan.org
randallbuth AT gmail.com
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