Persian Loan Words. Driver argues that the number of Persian
words in the book indicates a late date. (Driver, Literature, 501; S. R.
Driver, The Book of Daniel, CBSC [Cambridge University Press, 1922],
lvi-lviii) Yet, according to the book, Daniel wrote after the Persian conquest
of Babylon and even served in the new administration. He would naturally have
utilized the new language when appropriate. In fact, about half of the
(approximately twenty) Persian expressions found in the book are in the class
of governmental terminology, names of officials and so forth, (cf. H.C.
Leupold, Exposition of Daniel [1949; reprint, Grand Rapids: Baker,
1969], 23; Montgomery, Daniel, 21) just the kinds of words one would
expect to find updated to avoid confusion for persons living under the new
regime.
Actually, the Persian expressions in
the book would seem to be rather strong evidence for an early time of
composition. Kitchen points out that “the Persian words in Daniel as
specifically, Old Persian words.” (K. A. Kitchen, “The Aramaic Daniel,” Notes
on Some Problems in the Book of Daniel [London: Tyndale, 1970], 43) Old
Persian gave way to Middle Persian ca. 300 B.C., so these terms must have come
from an era before Persia fell to the Greeks since the Middle Persian period
began at that time and there are no Middle Persian expressions in the book.
(Ibid.) According to the majority of critical scholars, the Old Greek
(Septuagint) translation was made only thirty years (ca. 130 B.C.) after the
time Daniel allegedly was written (164 B.C.). Kitchen points out that
renderings of four Persian loan words in the Greek version of Daniel “are
hopelessly inexact—mere guesswork,” which suggests that the terms were so
ancient that “their meaning was already lost and forgotten (or, at the least,
drastically changed) long before he [the translator] set to work.” (Kitchen, Notes,
43) Thus Kitchen concludes that “the fact suggest an origin for the Persian
words in the Aramaic of Daniel before ca. 300 B.C.” (Ibid., 77) (Stephen R.
Miller, Daniel: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture [The
New American Commentary 18; Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1994], 28)