05-10-2011, 01:55 AM
In the peshitta we find trcn (nasrat), meaning the place and 0yrcn (nasraya) meaning someone from Nazareth.
With only the consonants to go by anyone transliterating into greek had a few options.
The translator of mark went with Nazarene and the translator of matthew went with Nazoraean Both are derivable from Oyrcn (nasraya).
Thus again we see the trajectory from the peshitta into the greek.
The one question might be why the greek translators used a zeta and not a sigma to translate the tsade. It seems very unusual, though not unknown
I have simplified the issue a bit as there is a great variety of spellings for nazareth and nazarene in the GNT, but all seem derivable from the aramaic.
One minor point which may need exaplining is why on occasion the "t" was dropped and we ended up with Nazara, and not Nararet.
With only the consonants to go by anyone transliterating into greek had a few options.
The translator of mark went with Nazarene and the translator of matthew went with Nazoraean Both are derivable from Oyrcn (nasraya).
Thus again we see the trajectory from the peshitta into the greek.
The one question might be why the greek translators used a zeta and not a sigma to translate the tsade. It seems very unusual, though not unknown
I have simplified the issue a bit as there is a great variety of spellings for nazareth and nazarene in the GNT, but all seem derivable from the aramaic.
One minor point which may need exaplining is why on occasion the "t" was dropped and we ended up with Nazara, and not Nararet.