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Re: SV: orion etymology of essene

Some response to Greg's post:
	I don't mind criticism of my RQ article, on the origin of the name,
written over 15 years ago. Were I to rewrite it now, I'd make changes and
add to the evidence. Your post, it seems to me, omits evidence.
	In Qumran mss, 'asah is not always used in unexceptional ways. It
is, e.g., quite prominent in the initiation in Serek hayahad. It is a
self-designation, e.g., in 1QpHab viii 1--in the first batch of scrolls, a
self-designation noticed by Wm. Brownlee, its first translator. (Noted as
an explanation for Essenes, but not vigorously pursued, owning to some
then-reigning faulty calculus of postulates about the name.)This comment on
Hab 2:4, along with MMT, as has been noted by scholars, helps us better
identify and understand Paul's later opponents. James on "be doers of
torah" is relevant, even if he was after the teacher of righteousness. Matt
3:7-8 and Pliny are also relevant, as written previously. "He who does the
truth" in John 3 sounded odd to commentators before Qumran. Some rabbis
make fun of others who presume to do the torah: e.g., Avot de R. Natan A
37. Neither Pharisees not Sadducees would use this name seriously of their
opponents.
	Nor is, e.g., Esau in Qumran mss always spelled standardly. Nor is
'asah in Genesis always identical with MT. Nor has the case of the priest
breastplate hoshen as esshn been adequately addressed. And why do some
accept the most often written (though finally fading) proposal which seeks
an Aramaic link analogous to 1 and 2 Maccabees' Asidaioi as "thoroughly
suitable"?
	Philo did not invent the Greek name Essaioi. Some Greek writer
before him did. Maybe Posidonius, who influenced Philo, who wrote on active
and passive ideals, who wrote on ethnography, and etymology, and,
favorably, on a subset of the Jews. Philo claimed the Greek was "inexact."
Few imagine that it came from Greek osios. (Nor any Greek, though we could
discuss the Artemis priests in Ephesus and Epiphanius or
the--later--variant reading in Josephus for Gerasa.) A Semitic Vorlage is
called for. 'osey hatorah.
	One of the handy things about Epiphanius is that he was unafraid to
report on heresies, because he was confident he could refute them all. He
knew enough and collected enough to preserve a great deal of valuable
historical tradition. His added  misunderstandings can often be bracketed
off. Ossaioi/Osshnoi in Epiphanius (and cf. Slavonic Josephus), a Jewish
group intent on observing torah, is important data. Cf. Nazoraioi/Nazarhnoi
(from N-tsade-R, though the Greek rendering allowed later exegetes to
comment on it also using N-zayin-R), Essaioi/Esshnoi, and
Sampsaioi/Sampshnoi (from shamash).  Cf. Samaritans' self-accounting.
	Some object that the name is too general for a religious group. But
compare such names as the Society of Friends, Karaites, Gnostics,
Kabbalists, Jesuits, Pharisees (separate from what? or specifying what?),
Methodists, Muslims, Therapeutae (servants or worshippers, not healers),
Latter-Day Saints, Taoists, Yahad, Cathari, Old-Believers.   Etc.
cheers,
Stephen Goranson
goranson@duke.edu