J. B. Lightfoot wrote one of the most informative Essays on Essenes,
including etymology, before the 1948ff Qumran discoveries. It's
avaiulable online at:
http://philologos.org/__eb-jbl/essenes.htm
This does not inclde the footnote on p. 94, earlier in the book, which
considers and dismisses the Artemis priest name as the source for the
Jewish "Essenes" name, though the essay includes and dismisses several
other proposed Greek proposals. Lightfoot's preference ("the silent
ones") has little following today. He includes Hebrew 'asah among the
philologically plausible proposals, and rejects it for some now-
obsolete reasons. For example, he asserted Avot de R. Nathan was a late
work (C.D. Ginsburg raised its relevance). But Marc Bregman, "An Early
Fragment of Avot DeRabbi Natan from a Scroll," Tarbiz (1983) 201-222,
presents this scroll fragment as one of the oldest pieces in the Cairo
Genizah. But many of Lightfoot's other comments on Essenes are still
worth reading, I think. If you prefer this in paper form (and with
Hebrew in Hebrew, not transcribed), look for the revised ed. only of
his commentary on Colossians and Philemon.
IMO. the various Greek spellings of "Essenes" come from
Hebrew 'asah; 'osey
hatorah (cf. VanderKam and Flint, v.2 DSS After Fifty Years, 1999,
VanderKam & Goranson chpts., among other recent publications).
Here I ask whether you know additions--especially ones before 1532--to
pre-1948 bibliography on this etymology (proponents & notable
discussions, pro or con). (I've left out several mere listings of 'asah
as plausible, e.g. K. Kohler in Jewish Encyc.; H.M.J. Loewe in Enc.
Brit. 1929, etc.)
1532 Ph. Melanchthon in J. Carion, Chronica. Wittenberg, 1532. f68v:
Essei / das ist / Operarii / vom wort Assa / das ist wircken.
1548 Paul Eber, Populi Iudaici Historia.
1550 The Thre Bokes of Cronicles... London. ...to declare the
straitnesse and severitie of lyfe with the dede, and would be called
Essey, that is workers or doers, for Assa, whence the name commeth,
sygnifieth to worke...
1557 David Chytraeus [Kochhafe], Onomasticon.
1559 M. Flacius Illyricus et al. Ecclesiastica Hist., Magdeburg
Centuries. Basel.
1560 Cooper's Chronicle, London.
?1566 M. Victorinum ed, Jerome Opera. Rome, Ep. 22 note.
[1573-75 Azariah dei Rossi. Me'or Enayim. Mantua.]
1583 J. Scaliger, De Emendatione Temporum. on hallucination.
1605 Scaliger, Elenchus Trihaeresii. different view.
1619 Sixtinus Amama ed. De Sectis Iudaicis..., Arnheim.
1674 J. Lightfoot, Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae, on Lk. xv, 7.
1680 Johann H. Willemer. Dissertatio...Essenis....
1699 J. Leusden. Philologus.
1703 J. Triglandius ed., Trium Scriptorum...Judaeorum Sectis...Delft.
107: factores legis.
1743-4 J.C. Happach. De Essaeorum Nomine. Coburg.
1748 Joh. Carpzov.
1839 Isaak Jost, Die Essaer..., Israelitische Annalen 19, 145-7.
1858 S. Cohn; David Oppenheim, MGWJ 7, 270-1; 272-3.
1862 L. Landsberg, Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthum 26/33, 459.
1864 C. D. Ginsburg, The Essenes [& Cyclopedia arts.].
1875 J. Lightfoot, Saint Paul's Epistles to the Colossians...appx.
1881 A. B. Gottlober, ...B$M KT H(SS(N(R )W (SS((R HaBoker Or [Warsaw]
170-1.
1881 Rev. Et. J. 3, 295.
1894 Kruger, Theologische Quartalschrift 76 [&1887, 69]
Also, Ginsburg refered to Christoph Fr. Tresenreuter, De Essaeorum
Nomine, Altdorf 1743, but I haven't located a copy--anyone know where
this might be found?
thanks, best,
Stephen Goranson
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