I have an interest in patristic/patronymic names (as they appear in the Book of Mormon). I have found an example of a matronymic name, where the son is named after his mother (Theodos[i]us and Theodora, respectively):
Amulet
22
Provenance unknown Silver
Amulet for Theodos(i)us son of Theodora
Bible Lands Museum, Jerusalem
Plate 9; Figure 7
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Translation |
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1 … צבואות צור הע(ל)מים אמר … רפאל מר ו(מ)ריה |
1 Sabaoth, the Eternal Rock, said …
Raphael … |
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2 … וחצרות גודיה צבא המשרת את כבודו (א)חד ומיוחד … אסו |
2 … the troops (?), army, that serve
His glory, one and only … heal |
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3 … ותרפיה ומרמ(וי) וטלני דכל ליליה … או עוף מעוף חצץ המשל אסיאל קדוש |
3 and healing (?) and … and
shadow-spirits of every night … or bird … Asiel, holy. |
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4 … ויחפרו וירדפו ויגערו מן תידוסוס ברה דיתידורא בשם שלום אל אלוה ס אתא
בארץ … |
4 and may they be ashamed, and chased
away, and driven out of Theodosus son of Theodora, by the name of Shalom El
Eloah … in the land |
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4a ומשרתו וכל אלהה |
4a and his servant and every deity |
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5 … השם המו <ש>ל בשמים אה באה יה ביה ומשרתו … כל אחד א הכוב(ר) עדבות
… |
5 the name that ru<l >es in the
heaven, Ah-in-Ah, Yah-in-Yah, and his servant … each one, A, he who rides the
clouds. |
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6 … צביאל בביאל בחור בוחר ה רבתה וגתבינן השני (drawing) המשל בשאול חח |
6 … Ṣeviʾel, Babiʾel, … He who rules
over Sheʾol. ḥḥ |
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7 … משרתו ויקר(ס)נא ותפנט ספיני ספנייאל שמשא חונא חוסא אל את אות אחח למן מן |
7 … his servant … |
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8 פנייס פנרוס בן בן רבא שלוש אות מי שמושל בבשמש יא אאא בבב ומשרתו את אנת
תיאון הגדול |
8 … he who rules over the sun, yʾ ʾʾʾ bbb, and his servant you, you,
Theon the Great. |
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9 אמונא נא … אבראות אבלא אברסס … שמושל יה שמו לוס ממר ממר מארתו ארנות יאסיה |
9 Amuna Na … Abraoth, Abla Abrasas, …
who rules, Yah, his name |
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10 אביאות אאות רב … מלל המושל בירה … משרתו אלם … גנניאל |
10 … Malal (?), who rules over the moon …
his servant Alam (?) … Gananiel |
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11 עאות … ()אות … סנג(י)ן אגגן בר פרגגוס … מרותה שמושנאות |
11 …
Sa<sa >ngen Angen bar Faranges …
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12 … |
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13 … (ומ)שרתו … המושל באוקינוס חחחחחחח … |
13 … and his servant … who rules over the
ocean ḥḥḥḥḥḥḥ … |
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14 … מכיאל מלאיתגה … נגג ואות טרסוס חחף … שבעואות … אמן אמן רבה אמן |
14 … Amen, Amen, Great, Amen. |
Commentary
The text, measuring 14.0 × 4.8
cm., is extremely difficult to read. It is very densely written, apparently by
a writer who did not care much about being legible, either because he was
careless, or because he sought consciously to conceal the wording of the
formulae he used. The language is apparently Hebrew, although one cannot make
much sense of the sequences that can be deciphered. The lines are not very
clearly distinguished. Only the sequences of words and letters that could be
made out with relative confidence have been transcribed here. There would be no
point in copying in this edition highly doubtful sequences of letters that seem
to make little or no sense. It is also impossible to offer a continuous
translation of the text, apart from a number of lines where a few words form
what looks like a coherent sentence. These will be given in the following
notes. We would however like to urge the reader not to attach too much weight
to our tentative transcription of the text. It may be pointed out that Ada
Yardeni’s drawing was made at an early stage of our work, and does not reflect
in all details our later conception of the text.
It may be noted that we have here
an enumeration, imperfectly preserved, of certain deities or angels that are,
respectively, “ruler of the heaven” (line 5), “ruler over Sheʾol” (line 6),
“ruler over the sun” (line 8), “ruler over the moon” (line 10), “ruler over the
ocean” (line 13). Each one of them seems to be accompanied by a certain
servant, called mešareto (lines 4a,
5, 7, 8, 10). This is slightly reminiscent of the text in Schäfer 1984 (Antonin
186) where we have a reference to “the holy troops that serve YHWH the God of
Israel” (line 12).
3 ותרפיה may be either the Aramaic: “and may you
heal him / her”, or the Greek noun θεραπεία
“cure” etc.
4 ויחפרו: The reading is doubtful; if it is
accepted, it would represent the Hebrew verb ḤPR, which means “to be ashamed”
(e.g., Is. 24:23; Jer. 50:12; Ps. 40:15, etc.). In Prov. 13:5 the Targum uses
also the same root, which is otherwise rarely (if at all) attested in Aramaic.
For the names Theodosus
(presumably for Theodosius) and Theodora, both of which are attested among
Jews, see Frey 1936, Nos. 31, 709, 722, 723. For Theodosia, see Schwabe and
Lifshitz 1967, No. 199. See also Naveh 1992, p. 116.
5 הכוב(ר) ערבות seems to be a corruption of הרוכב בערבות,
Ps. 68:5.
8 The writing בבשמש contains a
superfluous beth.
For Theon the Great cf. the deity
called Bar-Theon in A 6.
9 After אברסס (= Abrasax?) a dalet may be written. The division of
words here is particularly uncertain.
מארתו
could be a corruption of משרתו “his servant”.
11 We have traces of the frequent name-formula Sasangen bar
Faranges here. On this name cf. A 7:10. Note the spelling of—ng—with gg, by influence of Greek orthography. (Joseph Naveh and Shaul
Shaked, Magic Spells and Formulae:
Aramaic Incantations of Late Antiquity [Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, 1993],
73-76)
Here is figure 7 of Amulet 22 (ibid., 94):
This is plate 9 of Amulet 22:
Further Reading:
Examples of Patristic Names (Patronymics) in the Oxyrhynchus Papyri
Herbert Bardwell Huffmon on Patronymics in the Amorite Mari Texts
