medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
As a transliterated Semitic name
Azariah could be based upon a noun/verb
+ pronomial suffix + noun, as Rochelle
suggested, or based upon a verb +
noun, as I suggested.
The transliterated form "Azariah",
a Semitic name, poorly reproduces
its source form, whatever it was. Jerome
supposedly used an Aramaic archetype,
now lost, for his Vulgate translation. I
notice that `Azaryâh apparently does not
occur in the Talmud in connexion with
Tobit (is Tobit ever mentioned in the
Talmud ?), although the name occurs.
See Jastrow, Dictionary of the Talmud
&c (New York nd), p 1062, col. 2. There,
as in the Tanakh, the i of Azariah is con-
sonantal, so not a pronomial suffix to a
noun.
The English Azariah, the Greek Αζαρια (LXX),
the Latin Azaria (Vulgate) are all poor witnesses
to their sources. For all we know the source
had exactly the meaning Rochelle suggested.
Even the Qumran witnesses would just be
other witnesses, i.e. not the Hebrew or Aramaic
Tobit text - though it would be interesting to
know if the Qumran Tobit witnesses specifically
Azariah & whether it then takes the yod as con-
sonantal or not or if even that could be determined
(the Qumran texts are unpointed). The predominance
of parallel witnesses is not itself a witness for or
against anything, a best a coarse-grained and weak
probability measure. They suggest that this was not
an uncommon name, & its typical form had yod as
a consonant. They establish a norm or perhaps a
normette (i.e. a little norm) and IF in the source
Tobit the yod was a vowel, a pronomial suffix, the
collapsed remnant of the first person pronoun-
and who is there to gainsay it ? - its otherwise
relative abnormality would be instanter irrelevant
and we should possess with high certainty the
original meaning of the name.
The name `Azarîêl works exactly on the model
Rochelle suggested with êl in place of ya or yahu.
While writing this V. Kerry Inman's post appeared.
I'll incorporate his remarks here too:
> BDB is full of mistakes where etymology is concerned--this is because our
knowledge of > cognate languages was not so great when it was written. I
don't trust it.
Yes. They take Azariah with yod consonantal, but this
could be wrong. But this would mean they mispoint the
text no ? That is: the name Azariah is pointed in Tanakh,
& Talmud - the only witnesses I could find to the name
which are Semitic - with the yod consonantal. Note also
that Koehler-Baumgartner also take the i of Azariah
as consonantal (vide p 697, col 1). This would be perfectly
evident if I could produce it in pointed Hebrew. I could
spell it thus: ayin with hateph-patah, zayin with patah,
resh with schwa, yod with qamats, he (having an implied
schwa, never written). This way of pointing the name forces
the yod to be consonantal no ? The last he has shureq some-
times (i.e. the name occurs as `Azaryâhû, which is universally
transliterated apparently in to Roman letters as Azariahu).
Of course we do not possess the Hebrew or Aramaic
source texts for Tobit, and afortiori not the pointed
source text. Jastrow's references in his Talmudic
lexicon are not exhaustive of course but I could find
not even an abbreviation for the book which made me
wonder if the book of Tobit is ever mentioned in the
Talmud, Midrashim &c. The name `Azaryâh occurs,
pointed thus with yod consonantal, passim, though.
> I think Rochelle knows what she is talking about.
I don't doubt it. The unpointed Hebrew could be resolved
just as she suggests. We can easily produce the unpointed
Hebrew suggested by the Greek, Latin and English glosses
and that could be arguably resolved into the meaning
Rochelle suggested. But if the name is pointed as it is in
for example Nehemiah 7. 7 then the yod cannot be vocalic.
> The original objective was the combination of consonantal and vocalic yod.
In the early > years, if there was only a vowel, it would not have been
written.
True, but BDB, Koehler-Baumgartner, the Tanakh and Talmudic
parallels, all do point the text with yod read consonantally, no ?
If the yod is vocalic and represents the first person object
pronoun then it is the object of Âzar and the name means
"Yahweh helped me" ? In the name Azariah the aforementioned
witnesses point the first vowel as hateph-patah, if yod were
the first person object pronoun would the lead vowel not
be segol ? I can't find a witness - which doesn't mean much -
to Azari except as Azarî, î being pronomial possessive & Azar
being a noun and pointed with lead segol, nor can I get round
the fact that the name Azariah is always pointed with yod
consonantal (`Azaryâh) in the only witnesses I can find to this
name.
Mata
- -
Mata Kimasitayo
Kimasita~aT~Bloomington~In~Us
_________________________________
"Wer sich selber nicht glaubt, lügt immer."
-- Nietzsche- Also sprach Zarathustra
2. Teil; Von der unbefleckten Erkenntnis
_________________________________
----- Original Message -----
From: Mata Kimasitayo
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 8:06 AM
Subject: Re: [M-R] Book of Tobit
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
The name Azariah occurs at Nehemiah 7.7 and its
meaning is glossed in Brown, Driver & Briggs, Hebrew
& English Lexicon ... (Oxford 1966), p 741, col 1 :
`Azariâh i.e. `Azaryâh i.e. "Yahweh hath helped".
` here denoting ayin. `Azariâh alternates with
`Azariâhu i.e. `Azaryâhu. The name has an Akkadian
witness: `Azriyâ'û (' = 'aleph). The BDB gloss reads
`Azariâh as `Azar-yâh, `Azar being takenas Pâ'al
3rd pr sg = he helped.
Wikipedia claims Azariah means "Yah['s] help[ed]" in
Hebrew. Similarly WebBible Encyclopedia - claims
Azariah Means "whom Jehovah helps". I don't see how.
RE Rochelle's remark:
azar [help] i [me] ah [short form of theophoric name "yahu"]
Probably originally azari-yahu
If the resh is understood here as being followed by an
hiriq gadol, a long i, so that azari would mean "my help"
then the i is non consonantal while it is consonatal in the
name `Azariâh, that is the resh has schwa closing the
syllable ar, and the following i is consonantal yod. The
distinction is entirely lost in English transliteration, as
it is in the LXX Αζαρια though evident in Hebrew. There
are apparently Qumran witnesses. Cfr L Koehler & Walter
Baumgartner, Lexicon in Veteris Testimenti Libros (Leiden
1958), p 697, col 1.
Mata
- -
Mata Kimasitayo
Kimasita~aT~Bloomington~In~Us
_________________________________
"Wer sich selber nicht glaubt, lügt immer."
-- Nietzsche- Also sprach Zarathustra
2. Teil; Von der unbefleckten Erkenntnis
_________________________________
----- Original Message -----
From: rochelle altman
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 4:34 AM
Subject: Re: [M-R] Book of Tobit
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Hi, Jim,
Hebrew:
azar [help] i [me] ah [short form of theophoric name "yahu"]
Probably originally azari-yahu, eg. yermi-yahu -- Jeremiah
Rochelle
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
>Esteemed List,
>Since we (or at least many of us) have been delving into the
>etymological origins of Biblical
>passages recently, I wonder if anyone can answer a question about
>the apocryphal Book of
>Tobit. The story involves a journey taken by the young Tobias, who
>is accompanied by the
>archangel Raphael as a protector. Raphael, however, disguises his
>identity and tells Tobias
>that his name is actually Azariah. Is Azariah simply a name, or
>does it mean something in
>whatever Semitic language it comes from?
>Thanks in advance,
>Jim Bugslag
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|