07-31-2012, 04:38 AM
distazo Wrote:Hi Paul,
Are you saying that Kapra (denier) and Hanpa (people, nation, gentile) are related?
Because, I cannot find any relation between the two.
Regards
Shlama Distazo,
The very definition of Khanpa is "godless/unbeliever/profane/wicked/heathen/foreigner" and it is used as a derogatory term for "gentiles" and "nations" and "peoples" (i.e., anyone who wasn't a believer in God.) In those senses it is synonymous with Kapura (one who denies) and even "armaya" (gentile), depending heavily on the context. Shades of meaning between two different words can and do overlap. Khanpa has a shade of meaning that is "foreigner" ... Armaya also has a shade of meaning that is "foreigner" (specifically, foreign to the Jews).
One mistake translators make is simply relying on a dictionary to dictate the meaning of a word, and not allowing context to come into play. Context can, and should, force less-frequently used shades to take priority.
Khanpa/Armaya/Kapura/Amme, etc, are all closely related synonyms and are used interchangeably just as in the English "Gentile/Heathen/Pagan/Idolator", etc. Each has different shades of meaning, but all center around the lack of faith in the One God of Abraham.
Your question was regarding why one word (Armaya) is used over another (Khanpa), the answer is the same as it is in English - there is more than one way to say "heathen/pagan" in English, and likewise in Aramaic. (cf., the Greek rendering of "Khanpa" in 1 Corinthians 10:27 ... "unbeliever", or for Greek primacists, the Aramaic rendering of the Greek "unbeliever" is "Khanpa". (?pistos) describes someone who rejects or refuses God's inbirthings of faith (note the root, faith, 4102 /p?stis). Strongs Concordance.)
For "Armaya" = Pagan, see the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon entry for ")rmy" - with attestation of the "pagan" meaning in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic (JBA), Christian Palestinian Aramaic (CPA) and Syriac. References include both Sokoloff's A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic and J. Payne Smith: A Compendious Syriac Dictionary page 29: http://cal1.cn.huc.edu/showjps.php?jpspage=29
+Shamasha