Lamech’s Change of Mind: The Hellenistic Philosophy behind the Use of שנא in the Genesis Apocryphon and the Book of Daniel

Full title
Lamech’s Change of Mind: The Hellenistic Philosophy behind the Use of שנא in the Genesis Apocryphon and the Book of Daniel
Updated By
Research notes

NR\Reader Checked\19/11/2014

Reference type
Author(s)
Quick, Laura
Year
2013
Journal / Book Title || Series Title
Aramaic Studies
Volume
11
Issue / Series Volume
1
Pages
53 – 66
Work type
Label
30/06/2014
Abstract

This article seeks to establish that the ‘strong’ meaning of the verbal forms derived from שנא in the Genesis Apocryphon and the book of Daniel is of a dramatic, even violent, change; when used to denote a ‘change’ in mind or countenance, this refers to mental anguish, and so opens up a hitherto overlooked connection between this Jewish literature and the Hellenistic science of physiognomy. The semantic input of this Hellenistic context is important for a better understanding of the range of this Aramaic lexeme, and of the other lexeme employed to denote a ‘change’ by these two early Jewish texts, חלף. Thus this article will attempt to demonstrate the importance of the wider cultural context in which lexemes articulate their meaning.

Primary Texts: Judean Desert Documents
Scroll / Document
Passage
2: 1-18
Section type
Column