FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS ON POSSIBLE
ARAMAIC ETYMOLOGIES OF THE DESIGNATION
OF THE JUDAEAN SECT OF ESSENES
(Ἐσσαῖοι / Ἐσσηνοί) IN THE LIGHT OF ANCIENT
AUTHORS’ ACCOUNTS OF THEM
AND THE QUMRAN COMMUNITY’S
WORLDVIEW*
…
1
Basing on some most typical aspects of the religio-philosophical outlook
and activities of the Judaean sect of the Essenes, as well as the Qumran community (the 2nd cent. B.C.E. – 1st cent. C.E.), apparently associated with them, the
author considers principally three possible Aramaic etymologies of the designation
Ἐσσαῖοι/Ἐσσηνοί:
(1) Since, according to reiterated Josephus Flavius’ accounts and the Dead Sea
scrolls’ evidences, the Essenes and the Qumranites, closely associated with them,
believed in predestination and foretold the future, they could be called: those, who
believe in predestination, sc. the “fatalists”, “determinists”; or: those, who predict fate,
i. e. the “foretellers”. This hypothetical etymology is derived from the Aramaic word
ḥaššayyā᾿ (m. pl. in st. det.; resp. ḥš(᾿)(y)yn in st. abs.) reconstructed by the author
from the term ḥšy/ḥš᾿ (“what man has to suffer, predestination, fortune”) after the
model: C1aC2C2aC3 (normally designations of persons by their profession, usual
activity, etc. are formed after it).
(2) In the present author’s opinion, the Qumran community held itself
allegorically to be the “root(s)” and “stock” of Jesse, giving life to the “holy»
Davidic “Shoot” (see: Isa. 11:1); or, in other words, the Qumranites appear to
have considered their Yaḥaḏ (lit.: “Unity/Oneness”) the personification of a
new Jesse, who would “beget” and “bring up” a new David. (Cf., e. g., 1QSa,
*
*
Опубликовано: Schole 10, 1 (2016). P. 61–75.
This research was carried out thanks to the funding of the Russian Science Foundation
(project № 15-18-00062; Saint-Petersburg State University).
