11-12-2012, 09:28 PM
Ragash in Jewish dialects of Aramaic contemporary to Jesus and his peers meant "to percieve" not "thunder" or "tumult," so I'm not quite sure that what is found in the Peshitta is the original epithet.
One would also think that "Sons of Thunder" translated literally would have come out to b'ney ra'am, but ra'am is not attested in Western dialects, and seems (like other common Eastern Aramaic words like som "to put/place") to be completely absent.
What I've found is that the word for "to rage" or "to bellow" (like thunder) in Galilean and other Western dialects was r'gaz.
A common word from that root is ragoz (rest-gamal-waw-zain) or "wrath." What is interesting is that out of the 5 places it is found in Galilean texts, a majority of those times (3, perhaps 4 as once it is spelled defective) it is found as r'geyz (resh-gamal-yod-zai).
Thus, "boanereges" would have probably been b'ney r'geyz due to quirks of Jesus' dialect (which is fairly close).
Peace,
-Steve
One would also think that "Sons of Thunder" translated literally would have come out to b'ney ra'am, but ra'am is not attested in Western dialects, and seems (like other common Eastern Aramaic words like som "to put/place") to be completely absent.
What I've found is that the word for "to rage" or "to bellow" (like thunder) in Galilean and other Western dialects was r'gaz.
A common word from that root is ragoz (rest-gamal-waw-zain) or "wrath." What is interesting is that out of the 5 places it is found in Galilean texts, a majority of those times (3, perhaps 4 as once it is spelled defective) it is found as r'geyz (resh-gamal-yod-zai).
Thus, "boanereges" would have probably been b'ney r'geyz due to quirks of Jesus' dialect (which is fairly close).
Peace,
-Steve