medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
A few pedantic observations ...
> Today (25. March) is the feast day of:
>
> Melchizedek (c. 2000 BCE?) The "priest of Salem" who appears in Genesis,
> in the story of Abraham.
>
> Isaac (c. 2000 BCE?) The son of Abraham, popular in the Middle Ages as a
> prefigurement of the sacrifice of Christ.
Modern critical scholars tend to date Abraham to around 1750 bce.
> Dismas (d. c. 30) Dismas is the name traditionally given to "the good
> thief" who was crucified beside Jesus. Since he was promised a place in
> paradise, clearly he must be a saint, and has been thus invoked. The name
> "Dismas" comes from the Greek word for "dying," in the Gospel of Nicodemus.
> An Arabic infancy gospel further elaborates by declaring that Dismas was
> one of a band of highwaymen that tried to rob the holy family on its way to
> Egypt, but was moved to release them. In the Middle Ages Dismas was, not
> surprisingly, the patron of prisoners and thieves.
The Greek DUSMAS is similar to the word for "west" (setting of the sun), thus
perhaps "dying" in the sense of the daylight expiring, but not human death --
there are other good Greek words for that. In G.Nicodemas, he is simply named
Dysmas, without any attempted explanation or etymology. A safer statement would
be that the origin of the name is unknown (is it an attested ancient name? I
don't know).
Bob
--
Robert A. Kraft, Religious Studies, University of Pennsylvania
227 Logan Hall (Philadelphia PA 19104-6304); tel. 215 898-5827
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http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/kraft.html
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