Q^Q: When IS a CAMEL ALWAYS a CAMEL ?



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Answer:

In about 260

[out of about 266* ]

Greek manuscripts
which include the "Good News", 
"Good Message" or "Good Speech"
GOSPEL books 
(i.e., the bona fide meaning of GOSPEL 
which has been erroneously etymologized, 
in the "golden, best, and historic"
Aramaic-English New Covenant
published by the Netzarim Publishing House
as ( in error):
" God's Spell," footnote 40, Matthew 4:23.)
The Correct Etymology of GOSPEL is according to the classical reference found in the Oxford English Dictionary .

* N.B.: It is difficult to ascertain the total of the Gospel manuscripts correctly, as listed in Nestle-Aland's Greek NT introduction (Novum Testmentum Graece, 1979, 12th printing, pages 49-50). Of the 296 Gospel mss, 30 of these have 2 or more of the Gospels in them, with some verse omissions. These numbers simply give the reader a picture of the incongruency of the tiny number of text variants supposedly used to argue for a translation change of CAMEL to ROPE. The six variants are listed by their manuscript by Nestle-Aland in their footnotes at Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, and Luke 18:25.    

(We will discuss the findings of those 6 Greek manuscripts in a forthcoming post. )

Also in...

  the Pre-Nicene Christian

writers:

Clement of Alexandria

( AD 153 to 193 or 217) 

and

Origen

( circa AD 185- 254),

both of which we will examine later.  

Also in...

Dukhrana resources:

Khabouris C, T, Mingana 148, and BSFS manuscripts, as well as in the Aramaic Lexicons of Jennings ( pg. 48)

 and J. Payne Smith ( pg.72).

In addition to those lexicons, 

Dukhrana's resouces include

the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon (CAL) which has "GaMLa" listing as CAMEL in the "Common Aramaic" literature and as "dromedary" in the Syriac... as well as some compound words made from CAMEL. 

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The thoroughly scholarly CAL also includes the comprehensive information found in Sokoloff's

A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, 1st draft,

and

an extensive citation from M. Jastrow's Sefer Millim.

Both of these CAL resources cite many ancient writings, including the Targum and rabbinical sources, along with camel-compound words and 

proverbs from that era,

which use CAMEL for "GaMLa". 

Also...

Ernest Klein's fastidious and thorough Semitic-language volume, 

A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English, 

on page 103, includes several root usages of GML in addition to CAMEL... but not one of them includes a hint at rope, cord, or cable.

As in CAL and the other Lexicons, several CAMEL compound words are listed under GaMLa.

As a matter of fact, there was NOT ONE resource that I could find from the Aramaic Lexicons, Hebrew Lexicons, or Ancient Aramaic or Hebraic Writings which listed ROPE as being a possibility for ANY word from the G-M-L root.

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But even more importantly than all the scholarly writings and lexicons...

the Aramaic Scripture text itself bears witness that GaMLa means CAMEL.

There are two New Covenant verses that refer to rope, cord, or ship's cable. One verse is found in John 2:15. This verse records the whip of cords The LORD used to cleanse the Temple of the money-changers.  

The word for cord is the Aramaic-Syriac word "CHaBLa" ... which was derived from the Hebrew word "CHaBeL" ... similar to the English word "cable."  It occurs in Proverbs 23:24. This information is according to Ernest Klein, pg. 206.

This same word is found in Acts 27:32, where the Apostle Paul advises the soldiers to keep all the sailors on the ship, so they cut the cables on the lifeboat. 

Thus, if "CHaBLe" means "rope" in the two verses in the New Covenant where rope is REALLY a ROPE...

then why would anyone go against all these witnesses and declare that

"GaMLa" means "CHaBle" ? 

What

is the source 
--- or sources --- 

of this error ?

And worse...

WHY

is this error

being promoted?

( to be continued).      

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Dr.Ernest Klein on PARACLETE

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 :

http://www.wordsearchbible.com/catalog/PostBiblical_Hebrew_Literature_2270.html

"... 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  + + +