Ecclesiastes - GA Barton - 1908.pdf

68 ECCLESIASTES
a meaning which is followed by Dat., De W., Kn., Heil., Del., Wr., K6.,
Strack^ McN. and Ha. This meaning comes in the end to be practically
synonymous with "Preacher." To pass by many fanciful explanations,
see Ginsburg's Coheleth, p. $ff., Dod. took it to mean "Assembly" or
"Academy," and compared German and French royal academies.
Hit. interprets it "Narrator," PL renders it "Debater," while Che.
(1893) thought it might mean "The ideal teacher." Margouliouth,
Jewish Encyc., V, 32, takes it to mean "member of an assembly."
The 05, 'E/ocXeo-iatmJs from 'E/c/cX^tr/a, "assembly," is an imitation of
n|?np. It throws little light on the meaning, as we do not know the sig-
nificance attached to it.
1 - 2 - nSnp is found in the book t2
as follows: ch. i
7"
8 - 9 - l i2 . It has
the article (nVnpn) in i2 8 . In 7 37 it is construed with a fern, verb, unless,
as is probable, we are to read there nSnpn IDN. Probably, therefore, it
is an appellative. The verb Vnp, from which it comes, occurs in Hebrew
only in Ni., "to be summoned" or "assembled" (cf.
1 Ex. 32
Ez. 38' Est. 8 11 o2 - 16 - 18 ), or Hi., "to collect" or "assemble" (cf. Ex.
Je. 26"
35 1 Lev. 8 3 Nu. 20* Dt. 4 10 13 Ez. 38 Job n 10 , etc.).
The root Snp in Aram, is used in Ni. and Hi. in the same meanings
asinHeb. = e
(cf.Ja,. 1322), Syr. q hal=" congregate," "collect"; Sab. Snp
nSnp=" assembly," "congregation" (D. H. Miiller, ZDMG., XXX, 685,
and Hommel, Chrest., 127). The root also survives in Saho, a south
Hamitic language, in which kahal="come together," "assemble"
(Reinsch, Saho Sprache, 210).
In Ar. qahala="be dry," "shrivelled,"
"shrunk," the meaning of the root has developed in a different direction.
In form nSnp is a fern, segholate part, of the Kal. The use of the fern,
here has received different explanations. 1. Ra., AE., Ew., Hit.,
Heng. and Kue. have explained the fern, on the ground that nSnp" agrees
with or stands for wisdom (-"loan). 2. Ty. (Ecclesiastes, 57) suggests
that it denotes "one who is an assembly," i.e., it is a personification of
the assemblies of men. The fact that r^.?.P is usually construed with a
masc. verb, renders both these explanations improbable. 3. Wm.
Wright, Arab. Gram. 3d ed., 233, rem. c, explains it on the analogy of
Ar. formations as an intensive fern, formation, an opinion with which
Wr. (Ecclesiastes, 279) agrees. 4. Del., Che., No., Strack, McN. and others
explain nSnp as the designation of an office, on the ground that the fern,
ending is so used in rn.HD "scribe," Ezr. 2 55 ,
and oo-xn rnp/a "binder of the
gazelles," Ezr. 2". BDZJ. and Driver are undecided between 3 and 4.
This last (4) is probably the right understanding of the form; r^np
would mean, then, "an official speaker in an assembly." Another
solution of the word should be noted. Re., L' Ecclesiastes, 13, suggests
that it is a cryptogram, as Rambam is for Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon,
or Rashi for Rabbi Solomon Isaac. This is not so probable.