ETYMOLOGY OF THE NICKNAME ’ISKARIṒT(H):
ETYMOLOGY OF THE NICKNAME ’ISKARIṒT(H):

Summary/Abstract: The article derives Judas’s nickname ’Iskariṓt(h) from the Hebrew/Aramaic verb sāqar/seqar, and the noun ’ōṯ/’ôṯ (widely used in Biblical Hebrew and attested in the Talmud [=Aramaic ’t/’t’]), and interprets it as the “one who saw/gaze upon a sign” (cf., e.g., John 2:23, 4:48, 6:2,14,30 mentioning those who «saw signs» and came to be Jesus’s followers; the verbs theōréō and ‘oráō used in these passages correlate with the verb sāqar/seqar, “to look (at), gaze, see”, and the noun sēmeîon (pl. sēmeîa) correlates with the term ’ōṯ/’ôṯ, “sign”). The ex hypothesi “positive” character of Judas’s nickname possibly explains the evangelists’ renunciation of its interpretation. As an alternative etymology of Judas’s nickname ’Iskariṓt(h), one can derive it from the Hebrew/Aramaic verb šāqar/šeqar (“to lie, deceive, slander”, sc. “to violate (a treaty, etc.)”, “to betray” [the latter meaning is attested in Samaritan Aramaic]) and the same noun ’ōṯ/’ôṯ: the “one who slandered/resp. betrayed a sign”, i.e. the one who brought false evidence against Jesus (сf.: Matt. 26:59 ff.; Mk. 14:55 ff.). In Jn. 6:70, Jesus himself defines Judas with the term diábolos; this word can be interpreted as “slanderer”, “accuser”.

• Details
• Contents