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Re: Essene name
Judith Romney-Wegner wrote:
Given the meaning of the Aramaic term, plus Philo's reference to Therapeutae,
this does suggest a plausible hypothesis that his Therapeutae may be the same
guys whom other writers call Essaioi.
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But wait a minute here. Philo himself guesses that the term comes from the
word Hosaioi. And that is only a guess.
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Judith wrote:
So long as this is the most plausible
scenario, why pooh-pooh it unless and until someone finds a more plausible
origin for the name Essaioi?
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I think that I have presented a significantly more reasonable origin. In my
view, the Oniads looked to Isaiah (Hesias) for justification for their
construction of a temple in Egypt. They may have called themselves either
"the ones of Isaiah", the Hesaiwn in Greek or "the Isaiahites", the Hesaioi.
Hesaiwn is conspicuously close to Essene and Hesaioi is conspicuously close
to the Hosaioi of Philo and is the same term that Josephus uses on occaision
which has been debated here. If one looks at the use of the Book of Isaiah in
the DSS and particularly of ideas that may have come from that book, I think
that one will grant this possibility greater validity.
Just a few thoughts,
-David Jay Kaufman
HUC-JIR Jerusalem
Rabbinical Student