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Re: orion-list New Publication: Astronomical Papyri (fwd)

Old Issue - New Email

I may have deleted the WRONG emails about the alleged source
for the term Essene.  Below I have clipped a little "bit" from a fairly
obscure website.  I was wondering if an explanation could be 
ANY simpler than this one?  For those who have been keeping
track of the Essene-name discussion, how well does THIS idea
sit?

George Brooks
George.X.Brooks@JUNO.com
Tampa, Florida, USA

CLIP
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
"The source of the word Essene is a mystery. Scroll scholar,
Dupont-Sommers, proposed that the word comes from the Aramaic
word "'esah," meaning council or party, and the phrase "esath ha yahad,"
meaning the council of the community, which occurs often in the scrolls.
Philo's word Essaie, he derived from hosio, which he thought was a
Greek version of the Hebrew word, for holiness, hesed, often translated
as piety, grace or saintliness.  In fact hosio seems more likely to be
from
the semitic root, os, meaning a place of refuge and therefore salvation,
the meaning of the name of the prophet, Hosea."
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
1) Philo used the term Essaie, which he was probably sufficiently
informed about.
2) But he "guessed" that it came from the Greek "hosio" ... which
he was NOT confident about.
3) But if Esah also SOUNDED like Esed (what a great play on words),
then the Essenes would be calling referring to themselves as
"Council/Assembly"-like AND "Saintly"-like all at the same time.
4) This explanation even has a similar English construction to other
early period
terms for a group, like Nazar-ene (or for a person like Mary
Magdah-lene):  the term Essene, or Esah-ene, is amazingly similar to
Philo's Greek construction, Essa-ie (plural).

Comments?

George Brooks
George.X.Brooks@JUNO.com
Tampa, Florida, USA
For private reply, e-mail to George Brooks <george.x.brooks@juno.com>
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