stephan huller

I haven't worked this out entirely yet. It's that suffix -ion that's the problem. And that is a big objection. But for years I was trying to approach the name Marcion as a subform of Marcus which a number of scholars have argued for (Hilgenfeld). But for I've always had Ephrem's etymology sticking in my head:

I know scholars look at these three 'puns' and think Ephrem is 'making fun' or developing a 'pun.' But where is the insult here?

I've never heard a proper explanation for the names Bardaisan or Mani. We know that Mani is not his real name but a title. Mana works as well as any other suggestion. Bar Daisan might well have been taken after he was baptized. I recall similar examples with the name Jordan.

In any case the 'pun' on Mani is not nearly as insulting as the Greek and Latin authors who call him crazy. I think Ephrem is actually hitting upon the etymologies used by the groups themselves for their name. In the case of 'Marcion' his choice of maraq is interesting because one of its meanings is to sprinkle or anoint with oil - something that was done in the baptism rite quite explicitly according to Cyril of Jerusalem.

It is also used in a form which anticipates the eastern rite of baptism in the book of Esther:

There are many other forms in chapter 2 which are worth noting. The underlying idea is that anointing with oil was used to purify the bride. Something which makes sense in the context of baptism and the wedding chamber.

I have to do something but my point is that why couldn't Christianoi represent a Latinized Greek translation of the idea under some Aramaic term which means 'purified' one? The name would look like a form of the name Mark. Already I have read Jews argue that Marka (= Mark) is etymologically rooted in the concept of marak.:huh:

For those who aren't familiar with this Semitic root look at the footnote in this book:

http://books.google.com/books?id=w5k...%20mrq&f=false

Any clever suggestions for how the specific form mrqyona might mean 'one purified with oil' would be greatly appreciated.

stephan huller

The other forms in Esther of the root mrq:

תַּמְרוּק noun [masculine] id.; — absolute singular only Proverbs 20:30 Qr, see מרק

Hiph`il; elsewhere plural construct תַּמְרוּקֵי הַנָּשִׁים Esther 2:12; suffix תַּמְרוּקֶיהָ Esther 2:9, תַּמְרוּקֵיהֶן Esther 2:3.

stephan huller

Another thought. Kronholm (Motifs from Genesis 1-11 in the genuine hymns of Ephrem the Syrian with particular reference to the influence of Jewish exegetical tradition, LiberLäromedel/Gleerup, 1978) provides a little more of the original Syriac:

The full citation in Ephrem is "Marcion he polished so much as to make him rusty. He scoured him to the point of blunting his mind with blasphemy." Again the play on words is between Marqion and maraq "to polish, to finish, to perfect."

While Mark is a personal name in Latin and Greek, an Aramaic-speaker would have taken it as a title if it had been useful to do so. The Samaritan Targum translates ShLM as maroq or mirroq, this definitely doesn’t mean that the Samaritans would have expected to use either of these two specific forms as a name or a title. These two forms are only the infinitives of the root MRQ, and the form mrqa would have been felt as the ABSTRACT NOUN from the same root. As for speakers of what is attested in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, and Jewish and Samaritan speakers of Hebrew, they would have felt the form marqa to be the abstract noun from the root MRQ meaning in legal usage “signed, sealed, and delivered”.

stephan huller

Off the topic it is interesting to see the Qumran text of Job 37:11 MT reads:

stephan huller

'polished Marcion intensely' (lmrqywn mrq 'sgy). sgy = ܣܓܐ http://www.premiumwanadoo.com/cuneif...15&language=id abundant, much

stephan huller

You could make a good case that Ephrem is revealing the root of the name mrqyon. But WTF is the ion suffix?

stephan huller

A reference to Marcion as polished in Tertullian Prescription Against the Heresies?

stephan huller

Here is someone making the same etymology with the name Mark: http://www.catholicapologetics.info/.../intromark.htm

Pagninus apparently was a fifteenth century Domincan scholar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santes_Pagnino Here is the original Latin:

Marcus excelsus mandato, utique propter Evangelium Altissimi, quod praedicavit

stephan huller

St. Ambrose reminded the candidates of their baptism: "You were rubbed with oil like an athlete, Christ's athlete, as though in preparation for an earthly wrestling-match, and you agreed to take on your opponent" (S 1.4)

The eastern rite of baptism is explained by Narsai and Aphraates as follows:

stephan huller

Rather than being a translation of mashiach, Homer uses criw and crisw to meab the rubbing with oil of the body after bathing (Iliad. 23, 186; also in Odyssey. 4, 252) as other ancient writers do.