Birthday Biblical Philology
We have secular (often with pagan roots) calendars that we follow, and we have our blessed church calendar. According to the more secularized and commercialized calendar I was conceived around the commemoration of St. Valentine, and born in the fall/autumn. I don't know why, but the Greeks moved the commemoration of St. John Chrysostom from September to November (13th to be precise); my birthday. In the Ge'ez Rite tradition I was born during the end of Werha Ssigay (the month or lunar period of the flower). These may all be seen as random and irrelevant pieces of information, but I draw on them as inspirations to live a better life. My favorite podcast (Tarazi Tuesdays) released an episode on my birthday that covered my favorite subject, biblical philology. The following are my summarizing of a few of the functional scriptural terms Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi instructs us on, a retelling of a conversation he and I had when we met face-to-face, and my own insights to the cognate connections betwixt and between Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge'ez, and Amharic. Here is the episode in case you want to listen (always with ears that hear) in advance.
I have written them in all lowercase letters. I could have just as easily written them in ALL CAPS (like when you spell the villain's name). Fr. Paul oft reminds us that the original scriptural languages do not have capital letters as a form of emphasis, so at the least we should be suspicious of them in our English translations and at the worst we should eschew and jettison them. Every name in scripture has a function. It is not just another meaningless proper noun that is found in the other literature you are accustomed to.
saul - the first is the one asked for or pleaded for by those under the jurisdiction of god through samuel (he who heard god or carries his name), and the second is the one who is belittled (pauled) by god and thus renamed the little one (paul). the ge'ez rite has a lot to learn re: titles that are distributed in light of this teaching. saul is transliterated into greek then into ge'ez to give us a strange sounding saol which makes as little sense as when it is transliterated into arabic as shawel. but, an organic ge'ez cognate is ሰአል seal (sealee, sealeet, siilet) which means something asked for or pleaded for or a petition. the other forms of the word are often used in baptismal names and in reference to the intercession of the saints who have fallen asleep with the lord.
benjamin - Ys and Js are as interchangeable as Bs and Vs, Vs and Ws, Ls and Ns, TTes and SSes et cetera. ben yamin means the son of the right hand. ben and bar are used as son in scripture likely reflecting hebrew and aramaic. even in contemporary arabic the infamous osama ben laden shows us how son is still used in this way. bar is contemporarily and commonly used in bar mitzvah (son of the commandment) rites that make jewish boys men. yamin (hebrew) is unmistakably a cognate of yeman (ge'ez) which is becoming less common as a given name in ethiopia and eritrea but is still in use. yemane birhan(u) (right hand of the/his light) and yemane abuhu (on the right hand of his father) are two popular uses that come to mind.
gibor (GBR) - this is the word i discussed in face-to-face table-fellowship with fr. paul. in hebrew, this has the connotation of being a powerful, mighty, or strong man. in ge'ez, it has the connotation of being a worker, laborer, bondservant etc. in other forms it can also be author or farmer. i am wary of jumping to conclusions so i thought perhaps this is a false cognate. fr. paul told me not to rush and that perhaps the ge'ez and hebrew retained different elements of the same older term akin to the parable of blind men attesting to different actual parts of an elephant. maybe there is a more ancient semitic word that refers to the chief or most mighty of servants.
hayl - this is another pure and unmistakable cognate. energy, power, that which moves you.
david - remember that Vs and Ws are interchangeable and that anglicization and latinization are dangerous things for biblical studying. san diego is saint james is jacob is yakov. here david is dawid or dawud, which in hebrew means beloved. in amharic, mewded is to love, wid is expensive and valuable. do you see it? i do.