Q&A: Greek Words (?) in the Hebrew Bible
Greek Words (?) in the Hebrew Bible
Question
To Rabbi Michael Abraham,
My name is S., and you surely know me from the synagogue in Petah Tikva.
In the course of a conversation and correspondence with Dr. Yossi Globinsky on linguistic topics,
the issue came up of the possibility of finding loanwords from Greek in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh),
for example the name Lapid, which according to linguists derives from the Greek name Lampido, and so on.
I told the doctor that I am not prepared even to address the subject until I hear (or read)
a rabbi’s opinion about it.
We both agreed that you are the most suitable rabbi to respond on this matter.
I would be very glad if you would be willing to address the issue (by email or by phone, as you prefer).
With all due respect
Answer
Dear Dr. S.,
I certainly remember you from the synagogue. I am hardly an authority on this matter, if only because I come from the Talmudic side and not from the people of the Bible, so how can I stick my head in among the mountains, lest they say to me as they said to Rabbi Akiva: Go off to the tractates of Negaim and Ohalot.
In any case, for your question and in your honor I will not leave the page blank, and I will offer my share briefly.
First, let me preface by saying that in my humble opinion it is not correct to make an opinion and judgment on any theoretical subject conditional on rabbinic permission. Truth makes its own way, and the seal of the Holy One, blessed be He, is truth. It is better to examine the arguments on their own merits, and whatever such an examination yields, it yields. And if the claims seem puzzling, one should properly examine both them and the tradition that contradicts them. So too we learned from the words of Maimonides in the Guide for the Perplexed regarding corporeality and eternity: he said that if he had been scientifically and philosophically convinced of corporeality or of the eternity of the universe, he would have read that into the verses through creative interpretation. Likewise, in the sixth chapter of the Eight Chapters he raises a difficulty from the philosophers’ position (that one who is naturally upright is greater than one who suppresses his inclination) against the words of the Sages (that it is preferable to say, “I want to, and I want to, but what can I do—my Father in Heaven has decreed against me”). We see that from his perspective, the words of the philosophers are not automatically rejected in the face of the words of the Sages and tradition, but rather require resolution. And in my humble opinion, the same applies here.
As to the matter itself, it seems to me that the Sages already raised similar claims about foreign words in Scripture. This is true not only of Aramaic, where “Yegar Sahaduta” appears explicitly (not to mention the book of Daniel, which is written largely in Aramaic), but also of other languages. For example: “tat” in Coptic and “pat” in African means two (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 4b).
For a short explanation from the Shelah and several other sources, see here: https://daf-yomi.com/DYItemDetails.aspx?itemId=11602
I have now also seen this here (Kutscher): http://lib.cet.ac.il/pages/item.asp?item=8680
All the best, and may your strength be for Torah,
There is an interesting article by Kent Kitchen that supports the hypothesis that Daniel is written in “Imperial Aramaic,” the dialect one would expect if the book was written around the 5th century BCE, contrary to the accepted paradigm that says it originated in the Hasmonean period.
יש ללחוץ כדי לגשת אל daniel_kitchen.pdf
Without the ability to investigate things of this kind without hindrance, how would we know that the accepted paradigm rests on a shaky foundation?
And in the words of Shadal (Deuteronomy 28:23):
"But in truth, this matter attributed to Abaye has nothing to rest on, for in verse 20 it is written: ‘because of the evil of your deeds by which you have forsaken Me,’ and not ‘by which you have forsaken the Lord.’ And in any case, from here one may learn how free inquiry was among our predecessors, for even though the Sages of the Mishnah said in a baraita (Sanhedrin 99a): ‘For he has despised the word of the Lord’—this refers to one who says the Torah is not from Heaven; and even if he says the entire Torah is from Heaven except for this verse, which the Holy One, blessed be He, did not say, but rather Moses said on his own—this is what is meant by ‘he has despised the word of the Lord’; nevertheless, the Sages of the Talmud did not refrain from saying that the curses in Deuteronomy were spoken by Moses on his own."