והוא במלכים יתקלס ורזנים משחק לו

קוד: והוא במלכים יתקלס ורזנים משחק לו בתנ"ך

סוג: פרטים1

מאת: אבנר רמו

אל:

The common translation of the Hebrew סרנים (seranim) - “lords” in Codex Vaticanus is “satraps” and in codex Alexandrinus it appears as “rulers” (see: Jos 13:3; Jud 3:3; 15:5, 8, 18, 23, 27, 30; 1 Sam 5:8, 11; 6:4, 12, 16, 18; 7:7; 29:2, 6, 7).

In the Greek translation of the Book of Judges רזנים (roznim) appear as “satraps” (Jud 5:3), while in the Greek version of the Books of Isaiah, Psalms, and Proverbs it was translated to “rulers” (Is 40:23; Ps 2:2; Pro 8:15). This suggests that the Greek translators believed that
רזנים (roznim) is the result of ס (s) - ז (z) sibilant exchange and a metathesis error of סרנים (seranim). It should also be noted that both terms appear in the Bible only in the plural form.

The Greek term: “satrap” is a word borrowed from the Avastan language, and in the Achemenid Empire it meant: “governor.” It was the French Etienne Fourmont (1683-1745) who suggested that the biblical Hebrew סרנים (seranim) relates to the Greek “tyrannos” a loanword from the Luvian or Lydian languages. If this assumption is correct then we have here another case of a ט (t) - ס (s) exchange.

In the Greek translation of the Book of Habakkuk (Hab 1:10) רזנים (roznim) - “princes” appear as “tyrants.” Now if the Greek translators believed that רזנים (roznim) is a misspelled סרנים (seranim), then it is likely that already some of them made the connection between these terms and the word tyrannos.