From Professor Haim Rabin of Hebrew University and Hebrew Language Academy, in the Introduction of Dr. Klein's Hebrew Etymological Dictionary :
Dr. Ernest David Klein (1899-1983) born in Szatmar , Transylvania, was the son of a rabbi, whose formal education included Hebrew, Aramaic, German, Latin, and Greek. He obtained his doctorate in Semitic and Romance languages in 1925 at the University of Vienna. He is said to have had a working knowledge of 40 languages altogether.
He served as a rabbi at Nove Zamky, a Hungarian-speaking town in the Slovak eastern part of Czechoslovakia. He survived the death camps in Auschwitz and Dachau, although losing his family . From 1951 he lived in a large single-room attic at his synagogue in Toronto, Canada, where he was the spiritual head of a community of Hungarian-speaking immigrants.
He composed three classic etymological dictionaries: a medical etymological dictionary, a Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language (CEDEL) , and the Hebrew Etymological and Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English (University of Haifa, CARTA JERUSALEM, publication sponsored by the Minden Foundation... Beatrice Minden to continue her husband Arthur's legacy, published in 1987 , four years after the death of Dr. Klein) .
The Entry in Hebrew on page 533
of Dr. Klein's Hebrew Etymological Dictionary
is as follows....
" Paraqlit" ( spelled in normal Hebrew block letters, identical to the Aramaic except for vowel markings) ,
m. n., P B H
advocate, solicitor
[ Gk., parakletos ( = advocate), verbal adj. of parakatein ( = to call to aid, summon, invite, console, exhort, encourage) from para ( = beside) and kalein (= to call) which is cognate with L. caldre (to proclaim, call, shout ].
The importance of this rather normal entry which shows the Greek origin of paraqlita are those three little letters: P B H.
They mean:
P = Post B = Biblical H = Hebrew
Biblical Hebrew is from the beginning until about the year 332 BCE, marked by Alexander the Great's conquests (according to Wikipedia).
Post Biblical Hebrew , according to Dr. Klein's editors on page xi, Notes on Usage , comes after the Biblical era and before the Medieval Hebrew era.
An on-line search found this information at WordsearchBible.com :
"... Post-Biblical Hebrew Literature is a survey of Hebrew literature, including extracts from the Mishnah, the Talmud, the Midrashim, and from the writings of great rabbis through the Middle Ages and later.
About the Author
Benzion Halper (1884-1924) was born in Lithuania, but lived in Germany and England in his youth. In 1911, he moved to the United States to work with genizah; depositories of sacred books, in New York. Shortly thereafter, he began teaching rabbinics and languages at Dropsie College, and also was custodian of manuscripts there
In the sacred Hebrew literature of this POST BIBLICAL HEBREW time-frame, then, one would find the GREEK LOANWORD Paraqlit . It would mean ADVOCATE or HELPER of some sort. ( See previous blog for at least one well-known citation.)
In the Peshitta translation, so closely related to the Hebrew that Paraqlita is spelled nearly identically, it would retain its identity as a GREEK LOANWORD and retain its meaning as ADVOCATE or HELPER....never "REDEEMER +" !
However, ... disregarding such eminent scholars as Dr. Klein, disregarding the hundreds of years of Post Biblical Hebrew literature, and disregarding the 3 Aramaic English translations available for SEVERAL DECADES... "REDEEMER+" is how the "golden, historic, and best" modern translation of the Aramaic to English NEW COVENANT sponsored by the Netzarim camp translates the VERY WORDS OF Y'SHUA+ Ha MASHIYACH+ when HE+ told His+ disciples about the Paraqlita coming, as recorded in 4 verses in John. To Wit :
John 14:16
"And I+ will ask of My+ FATHER and HE will give you ANOTHER REDEEMER Who will be with you forever."
Elucidation from verse 17: Even the SPIRIT of TRUTH; Whom the world cannot receive, because it perceives* him not, neither knows him; but ye know him; for he dwells with you and shall be in you. *Greek
John's next verse is 14:26:
"But the REDEEMER, the HOLY SPIRIT, Whom The FATHER will send in My+ Name, HE shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I+ have said unto you. "
John 15:26 reads:
"But when the REDEEMER is come, Whom I+ will send unto you from beside The FATHER, the SPIRIT of TRUTH, Who goes out forth from beside The FATHER, HE shall testify of ME+. "
John 16:7 reads:
"Nevertheless, I+ tell you the truth; it is advantageous for you that I+ should go away: for if I+ go not away, the REDEEMER will not come unto you; but if I+ depart, I+ will send Him unto you."
Trying to force Greek loanwords into an Aramaic etymology works CONFUSION... making Our LORD appear to say things that do not make sense. Thus, it is IMPORTANT to translate ACCURATELY the GREEK LOANWORDS every time and place they are found within the Peshitta.
There are OTHER Greek loanwords throughout the Peshitta... such as the 13 verses in the Peshitta that use another Greek loanword, "diathAkA" for covenant ...Greek loanwords included in the very Aramaic text. This is significant BECAUSE there are perfectly good words for covenant in both Aramaic and Hebrew which could have been used.
Returning to Paraqlita, then, of special consideration HERE would be the time-frame of the Peshitta text. The information about the age of the Peshitta contains quite a wide variety of opinions, but the linguistic implications of the time-frame of the Peshitta and its translation is worth the time to sift through the many opinions.
(More to come about the Peshitta text time frame and how the Pre-Nicene Christian Writers viewed the Paraqlit... years before the Peshitta Text was available. )
Yours for TRUTH+ ,
Sister Judith Hannah + + +
