[B-Greek] PASXA and SIKERA --transliteration from Hebrew
Randall Buth
randallbuth at gmail.com
Mon Apr 2 10:45:48 EDT 2007
There is a technical point on transliteration from Hebrew to Greek
that is worth further discussion for those focussing on NT Greek.
Pietersma EGRAPSE
>If you you check the first passover account in Ex 12, you will see that
the LXX has PASXA (v.11), a transcription of the Aramaic term, rather
than the Hebrew. This probably means that when the Hebrew Pentateuch
was translated into Greek, Alexandrian Jews referred to the festival by
that name.>
Al is correct is suggesting that PASXA reflects a form that was
probably already current in Alexandria in Greek in the Jewish
community that produced the LXX.
However, it should be pointed out that the LXX translator was
transliterating the Hebrew word at Ex 12:11. That is, a Hebrew source
"pesaH" produced a form PASXA in Greek at Ex 12:11. (reasons to be
discussed below). [[There is no indication that the LXX translator was
working from an Aramaic text, in fact there is no indication that an
Aramaic text of the Torah even existed in pre-Christian times. the Old
Greek does mention the use of an Aramaic text when translating Job. If
our Aramaic Job from Qumran is any indication, that text probably came
from Mesopotamia in the East.]]
Why is this important? Because one needs to be able to correctly go in
the other direction. If a Greek text was found with a form PASXA,
along with other signals of translation from a Semitic source, would
someone declare that the source text was Aramaic and could not be
Hebrew? This very logic, mistaken, turns up in NT studies frequently,
like at Luke 1:15 where we find SIKERA. SIKERA is 'beer' and is a
transliteration from HEBREW "shexar" found in the LXX (Lv 10:9, Nu
6:3, 28:7, Dt 14:26, 29:5). Hebrew shexar is always rendered sikera in
the Tora, though sometimes translated MEQUSMA in other books (1Sm
1:15, Mic 2:11. OINOS Ps 69:13=68:13, Prov 31:4, MEQH Prov 20:1, 31:6,
)
The question as to why Hebrew shexar would be transliterated SIKERA in
Greek is an interesting question in its own right. That shexar means
beer is probable because of Akkadian and archaeology. But why
transliterate instead of using a Greek word for beer?
Well -- have you ever tried to find the Greek word for beer? this is
not an easy endeavor. Modern Greeks cannot help because they use
'bira'. Papyri come to the rescue. I've run accross ZUQOS in ancient
papyri though haven't checked where this occurs in literary texts.
apparently, ZUQOS was not a high-class or popular drink in Greek
society. In any case the LXX translators preferred transliteration, or
a general translation 'alcoholic drink/wine'.
So finally, why would the form SIKERA be chosen in Greek when working
from a Hebrew text? Probably two reasons, 1) a form of a word ending
in 'a' is more euphonic in Greek and matches the vowel of a regular
neuter ending found in -MA words, PNEUMA, FRONHMA ktl. 2) From the
Black Sea to Egypt, Greek was interfacing with Aramaic on an
international stage. (Aramaic was the former language for
international diplomacy.) Apparently, this resulted in choosing
Aramaic-like forms when transliterating from minority Semitic
languages. While these two reasons could be over-ridden, as we see
with some 8 examples of FESAK (6 in 2Chr, 1 in Jer, 1 in Neh.). The
point of all of this is that SIKERA, PASXA, et al, are the standard
ways of transliterating HEBREW words into Greek during Second Temple
times.
So for those celebrating the feast tonight --
Hag sameaH (=EORTH KALH, EORTH XARAS, EUFRAINOU EN TH EORTH TOU PASXA)
Randall
Randall Buth
randallbuth at gmail.com
www.biblicalulpan.org
--
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicalulpan.org
χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη πληθυνθείη
שלום לכם וברכות
ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il
randallbuth at gmail.com
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