Words have a history. They tell us about our past.
Or, at least, they tell us about the history of those who used the language. Clues to where they lived and what they thought are littered throughout their vocabulary. In English, a great example is the difference we make between pig, cow and deer in contrast to pork, beef and venison.
Words like pig, cow and deer are Anglo-Saxon, used by the inhabitants of England before the arrival of the Normans. The Norman invaders brought with them their new, posh French words and so porc (pork) and boeuf (beef) entered our vocabulary.
Implications
What does this little curiosity tell us? It reminds us that it would be the Anglo-Saxon peasants who farmed the countryside, rearing the cows and pigs while the Norman lords actually got to enjoy the produce with their banquets of beef and pork.
Venison is an interesting one too. While ‘deer’ was the Anglo-Saxon word for this creature, ‘venison’ comes from an old French word meaning ‘to hunt’, a verbal relic from the days when such hunting was the sport of the Normans.
The Bible is full of such loan words too. Their presence confirms the antiquity and authenticity of the text. When Moses was given his name we are told it sounded like the Hebrew ‘to draw out’. But it was also a very common royal name in the New Kingdom of Egypt, found in the endings of names like Rameses, Thutmose and Ahmose, meaning ‘Son of ’. The name of Moses fits the time and place in which he lived.
Egypt not Babylon
Scholars have sometimes sought to claim that the story of Noah and the Ark has been borrowed from Babylonian sources. Indeed, there are very similar stories told in Babylonian epics. But, in the case of the Genesis story, the word used for ‘Ark’ (and also used for the basket in which Moses was placed in Exodus) has been borrowed from Egyptian.
If the Bible writers were borrowing the story from Babylon you would have expected them to use the quite different word for such a vessel, but instead Genesis reminds us of its Egyptian setting. Likewise, words used for ‘river’ and ‘magician’ in Genesis and Exodus are often Egyptian words, rather than Hebrew.
Persian words
Similar observations can be made of words used in other Bible books from later periods of history. If we look at one of the last books of the Old Testament, Esther, we find the author using words or including names that fit the very different context of ancient Persia. ‘Purim’ is derived from the Persian word for ‘lot’, a ‘Satrap’ was a Persian role, and names like Haman, Vashti, Mordecai and even Esther demonstrate a Persian setting.
Dating the Bible
Clues like these are scattered throughout the Old Testament. They undermine the common objection that the Bible was written long after the events about which it speaks. In a world before Google searches and etymological dictionaries, the Bible writers were able to use the authentic vocabulary and refer to the customs of the time, not because of good guesswork but because they were reliable records.
