Names of Jewish Feasts in Greek

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Louis L Sorenson
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Names of Jewish Feasts in Greek

Post by Louis L Sorenson »

I found a calendar list of the Jewish annual feast schedule. I've been trying to collect the Greek names of Jewish Feasts with their alternatives. Are there better Greek names for the feasts than what I list below? I also have some questions about the word Purim (see below). Note: In the LXX, the names of the months are changed to the ordinal (1st month, 2nd month, 6th month, etc.). In general, it was not the practice in Hellenistic Greek to use Hebrew names, or Aramaic names for any given month.
Jewish Feasts calendar.gif
Jewish Feasts calendar.gif (19.78 KiB) Viewed 1466 times
1. ἡ ἑορτὴ τοῦ Πάσχα the feast of Passover (the pascal lamb), τὸ Πάσχα Passover
2. ἡ ἑορτὴ τῶν ἀζύμων [ἄρτων] the feast of unleaven (bread)
3. τὸ δεύτερον Πάσχα (τῇ 14th τοῦ δευτέρου μηνός)
4. ἡ ἑορτἠ τῶν ἑβδομάδων the feast of Weeks (ἡ ἑβδομάς week)
--- a. ἡ πεντηκοστὴ ἡμέρα the day of Pentecost (lit. the 50th day)
5. ἡ ἔτους πρώτη = Rosh Hashanna (first day of the civil year)
--- a. ἡ ἑορτὴ τῶν σαλπίγγων the feast of Trumpets (so called in the first kingdom)
6. ἡ ἡμέρα ἐξιλασμοῦ / τοῦ ἱλασμοῦ the Day of Atonement (= Yom Kippur)
7. ἡ ἑορτὴ τῆς σκηνοπαγίας the feast of Succoth (of booths – lit. of-tent-staking)
--- a. ἡ ὀγδόη [ἡμέρα] ἐκκλησίας lit. 8th day of assembly (= Heb. Shimini Atzerat, the Last Great Day)
--- b. ἡ ἡμέρα τοῦ χαρεῖσθαι ἐν νόμῳ the day of rejoicing in the Law (= Heb. Simchat Torah)
8. τὰ ἐγκαινία The festival of dedication / Hanukkah (from ἐγκαινίζω to renew)
9. ἡ ἑορτὴ τῶν Φρουρέων Purim Lit. the feast of Lots. from Persian/Aramaic(?) Pur-im 'lots' (= Greek κλῆρος -ου, ὁ 'lot')

I have some questions about the term 'Purim'. Josephus talks about Purim in Antiquities 11, book 6. I'm wondering about the definition/morphology of the word φρουρέας in the following quote:

[295] διὰ ταῦτα μὲν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι τὰς προειρημένας ἡμέρας ἑορτάζουσιν προσαγορεύσαντες αὐτὰς φρουρέας. [Perseus text can be found at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... ction%3D13

Whiston's translation is as follows:
for which cause the Jews still keep the forementioned days, and call them days of Phurim [or Purim.]
.

Wikipedia says
Purim (Hebrew: פּוּרִים (help•info) Pûrîm "lots", from the word pur,[3] related to Akkadian pūru) is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire from destruction in the wake of a plot by Haman, a story recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther (Megillat Esther).
The word is not in LSJ, Lust, or BDAG. The plural genitive must be ἡ ἑορτὴ τῶν Φρουρέων. What would be the singular, φρούρ? Ιs a loan word from Aramaic? , I take it Graecized by Josephus, and have no relation to φρουρά lookout, guard. Would one talk about this feast as ἡ Φρουρέας [ἑορτή] in the feminine or τὰ Φρουρέα?

Again, are there better choices or alternative names for the Jewish feasts in Greek?
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