Mythology among the Hebrews and Its Historical DevelopmentGoldziher, Ignác
Religion
Mythology among the Hebrews and Its Historical Development
Goldziher, Ignác
Jewish mythology; Judaism -- History -- To 70 A.D.
A nation calls itself by a common name when the consciousness of the
union of its members first arises. Names in which the nation confesses
itself to be a wandering, restless society, point back to the nomadic
stage of civilisation. That the contemplation of their own wandering
mode of life, is with the nomadic peoples one motive for the national
appellation, is shown in many instances which Bergmann has correctly
explained in this sense.[122] The Kurdic nomadic tribes still call
themselves _Kötsher_, i.e. ‘wandering,’ and despise and persecute their
settled brethren.[123] The national appellation of the Zulus denotes the
‘homeless,’ ‘roaming.’[124] According to the etymological explanation
given by an old Hebraist, Clericus, the name of one of the peoples which
are mentioned as aborigines of Canaan, the Zûzîm, is to be referred to
this notion; it is so if we can cite for its explanation the late Hebrew
_zûz_, ‘to move from place to place.’[125] Another Canaanite national
name, Perizzî, also according to many expositors points to nomadic
life.[126] The name Pûṭ, by which the Egyptians called many nomadic
tribes that came into their country, and which is also given in the list
of nations in Gen. X. as the name of a son of Ham, likewise belongs to
the same class. From their wandering life they were called by the
Egyptians the ‘Runners,’ and the graphical power of the name is shown in
the hieroglyphs by the picture of the quickfooted hare.[127] The name of
the Hebrews also, ʿIbhrîm, belongs to the same series; it denotes ‘those
who wander here and there,’ the Nomads. For the word ʿâbhar, from which
the national name ʿIbhrîm or Hebrews is derived, denotes not merely
_transire_, ‘to pass through a land, or to cross a river,’ but rather
‘to wander about’ in general; for which sense many Hebrew texts might be
quoted. The Assyrian is instructive on the point; there the phonetically
corresponding verb is used of the sun, which _i-bar-ru-u kib-ra-a-ti_
‘marches, wanders through the lands.’[128] A similar wandering through
various lands is the foundation of the appellation ʿIbhrîm ‘Hebrews,’ so
that it denotes ‘the Wanderers here and there,’ the Nomad-people.[129]
In opposition to these national names others are formed, which speak of
the sedentary mode of life; a name of this kind is that of the South
Arabian people Joḳṭân, which, as Freytag conjectured,[130] comes from
ḳaṭana ‘to take up a fixed abode.’[131]
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