Re: orion Gerasa = Essa = Essenes?

[Stephen Goranson <goranson@duke.edu>]

Thanks for mentioning Bergmeier's new ZDPV article, which I have not seen
yet. If the article helps to encourage thinking about the origin of the
name of "Essenes"--and about the "land of Damascus"-- then it will be
useful. Hearing about Roland Bergmeier's article is interesting because he
has, apparently, abandoned the etymology supported in his book, _Die
Essener-Berichte des Flavius Josephus_ (Kampen: Kok Pharos, 1993), namely,
from Aramaic XSY.
	The proposal to link Essenes and Gerasa, via a variant reading of
Ant 13.393 [23], is at least as old as N. Serarius, _Trihaeresium_ (1604),
lib. III, cap. I. A variation on this proposal, applying only to "John the
Essene" (War 2.567 and 3.11), cautiously suggested by A. Schalit in
_Namenwoerter zu Flavius Josephus_ (1968), was mentioned on orion and is in
the archives (23 July 1997).
	I will be interested to hear whether readers find Bergmeier's
article persuasive.
Stephen Goranson
goranson@duke.edu

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