[B-Greek] Barabbas, son of Mr. Abba
Randall Buth
randallbuth at gmail.com
Sun Mar 22 11:33:02 EDT 2009
edgecomb egrapse
>
>Dear Mr Macy,
>Your suggestion would not work. There are two reasons.
>
>One is that the equivalent of the "abba" part of the name is indeed the
>Aramaic for father [ )B) ], but this -a at the end indicates the Aramaic
>definite particle was present. The Aramaic construction "abba", always
>definite, is simply the word for "father" (absolutely not "daddy" as some
>would have it), apparently out of respect. So it would be literally "son of
>the father", though perhaps understood as "son of his father", as a kind of
>pseudonym to preserve anonymity.
>
>Secondly, both Hebrew and Aramaic, likewise Greek, do not attach special
>significance to an anarthrous noun, which is not applicable in this case,
>anyway. The connotations of the English "a" as indefinite pronoun need in
>those languages needs to expressed in order to be read there.
>
>Regards,
>Kevin P. Edgecomb
>Berkeley, California
The above note correctly points out problems with using English as a
semantic point of reference, but the explanation is limited by being
etymological.
One must remember that meaning is derived from usage and that
usage DEVELOPS.
In particular, the word ABBA was used in both Hebrew and Aramaic.
It is not clear that the -a was understood as a definite article, whether
generic or otherwise. Chaim Rabin wrote an article many a year ago
explaining the form abba as developed from an archaic vocative and used
in colloquial Hebrew without any sense of article. But the origin is
irrelevant, it was used in both languages during the Second Temple.
Even more importantly, ABBA was not just a word, it was also used as a
personal name. For example, we have a Jewish scholar ABBA from the
1st century BCE with such a name (Peah 82 46, cited in Hebrew), and also
in the end of the first century CE we have an ABBA who was a grandson of
Gamaliel yeb. 15a. I am not suggesting that Barabbas was the son of the
scholar mentioned first. The time period would work, but we can assume
the name to be carried by more than one 1c BCE Jewish male.
Please allow me to pre-empt a 'PC' challenge.
It is fashionable in NT circles to "dis" rabbinic evidence on the
grounds that the records are "post-second temple". But so are all copies of
the Greek NT. Rabbinic literature is a massive, CONSERVATIVE, depository
of an ancient cultural heritage and much material is cited by name of the
speaker and in the words and language of the speaker.
Concerning 'ABBA':
there is no reason for a later adding of such a name to the records of
Second Temple times and the rabbinic evidence here should be accepted as
reflecting an authentic cultural trait, namely, the use of ABBA as a name. I
have not checked manscripts on the two citations here, but the name
became commonplace during the Amoraic period 3-4c CE, and I see no
reason to exclude its presence as a personal name during late Second
Temple times. (One could check onomastica of Second Temple archeological
findings for potential confirmation. Unfortunately, I don't have time today.)
PS: The name is still in use. One of the best works on the style of mishnaic
Hebrew versus biblical Hebrew was a two volume work by Abba Bendavid
leshon miqra ulshon Haxamim, 1967. Excellent.
Note the first name of the author.
ERRWSO
Randall Buth
--
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicalulpan.org
randallbuth at gmail.com
Biblical Language Center
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