Golden Dawn Hebrew before c. 1900

kwaw said:

Like Wirth he gives'singe' (monkey) for qoph - different for teth though.

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QVP - "ape" or "monkey" is a legitimate and well-established speculation; in the plural it occurs in I Kings 10:22 and 2 Chronicles 9:21, whence the derived singular form (not attested as such, however). What interests me is what Wirth's source would be. It isn't our "other Rabbi", and it isn't common knowledge like that given in the Grand Larousse, so it must be a specific and more recent source. The same one would give "boue" or slime, mud, "coating" (hence our Rabbi's "enveloppoit") for Teth.

kwaw said:

I have no idea what verpunique means (Carthagian/Punic worm!

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I don't either. It doesn't occur as such in any source but Duret. So "Punic Worm" it is, whatever that is.

About a half of those modern "correct" meanings were never "lost", but our Rabbi gets at least five more perfectly correct, by modern standards (while losing Tau).

Here is the main tradition -

............Jerome.............Kircher............Levi

Aleph - Doctrina...........Doctrina......... Disciplina
Beth - ..Domus............ Domus.............Domus
Gimel - .Plentitudo.........Plenitudo... .....Plenitudo vocis
Daleth -Tabulae...........Porta...............Porta librorum
Heh- ....Ista.................Ecce...............Ecce
Vau - ...Et...................Uncus..............Uncus
Zain -...Haec...............Arma................Gladius
Cheth - Vita.................Vita.................Vivens
Teth - ..Bonum.............Bonus...............Bonum
Yod - ...Principium.........Viri fortes.........Principium
Kaph - ..Manus.............Manus...............Manus
Lamed - Disciplina.........Disciplina...........Discite
Mem - ...Ex ipsis............Ex ipsis.............Ex ipsis
Nun - ....Sempiternum....Sempiternum.....Sempiternum
Samekh -Adiutorium.......Adiutorium.........Auxiliator
Ayin - ...Fons or Oculus..Fons or Oculus...Oculus
Peh - ....Os...................Os....................Os
Tzaddi - Justitia............Justitia..............Justitia
Qoph - ..Vocatio............Vocatio............Vocatio
Resh - ...Caput..............Caput................Caput
Shin - ...Dens...............Dentes...............Dentes
Thau......Signa...............Signum..............Signa

Note the both Jerome and Kircher have much fuller descriptions of the letters, in some cases hitting on the "right" meaning, but these are the "keyword" form.

Beth, Daleth, Vau, Kaph, Samekh, Ayin, Pe, Resh, Shin, and Tau are perfectly correct.

kwaw said:

I have no idea what verpunique means (Carthagian/Punic worm!

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Let me speculate for a bit - if Duret was translating a source, or getting it verbally from another (Allison Coudert says he was a disciple of the "sixteenth century Neoplatonic friar" Francesco Giorgi)
http://books.google.fr/books?id=BZz...onepage&q=duret histoire gimel aleph&f=false
- then he might have got "punique" from the Hebrew for "Phoenician". The "Phoenician worm" would then be the silk worm, since Tyre and Berytus were famous for their silks and "purples" that came from there.

It could be that. I have no idea upon what linguistic speculation a relationship between "heh" and some word for "silk worm" might be, though.

kwaw said:

Claude Duret for example, who in his Thresor de l'histoire des langues de cest vniuers, etc., 1619., gave these meanings of the letters (aleph, ox; gimel camel, etc).

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Whatever the case may be with "ver punique" and Thau as a voice or a shout, this counts as a major discovery for me. It is the earliest I know of where the Hebrew alphabet is so closely defined correctly by modern scientific - philological - standards.

Duret's unknown Rabbi may be well-enough known in Hebraic studies circles, but this is the first I have read of his alphabet. It is really a wonderful discovery. Thanks very much!

By comparison, see what an "establishment" Hebraist of the time, Johannes Buxtorf, wrote about the Hebrew letters in his grammar of 1609 -

Buxtorf draws a line against tradition and mystical speculations when he writes (and he knew very well what he was doing, snipping the Cabalist tendencies in the bud):

"Nominum literarum Alphabethi etymologiam affere, supervacuum judiciamus, partim quod incerta vel nulla est, partim quod non multum ad accuratiorem ipsarum cognitionem facit."
(Thesaurus grammaticus linguae sanctae Hebraeae (Basel, 1609), p. 3)

"We consider it superfluous to address the etymology of the names of the letters of the Alphabet, because some of them are uncertain or meaningless, and not much is precisely understood about them."

Getting back to the original point - I think we have established relevant information was available in French, if they knew it (and they should have), it was apparently irrellevant to them (or to their narrative). For myself, I think Jerome/Kircher was sufficient 'authority' for the narrative Levi wished to present, and for those that followed ( in French Esotoric tradition), Levi himself was sufficient 'authority'. I do not believe Levi was the recipient of any secret, esoteric tradition, but was with a certain genius and seductive mode of language a revisonist, reconstructing from selected sources his esoteric 'history' ( and occassionally inventing sources/documents and quoting from such).

None of his French followers seem to have been very critical, or much engaged in original research or checking (but rather engaged upon expounding speculations rooted in Levi's own imaginings, with their own 'invented' sources). By many accounts his writing is seductive (a fact that comes across even in translation, IMHO), but maybe more so to native speakers than foreign. I know at least that Christine T.P. thinks that Waite/Crowley translations, with critical footnotes, were somehow a conspiracy of the English school to discredit Levi (implying, in a way, their criticisms were false), but the fact is while they admired his writing and imagination, their criticisms (especially Waite's) hold up (as far as I have researched them) - and it is hard to find any such critical examination or evaluation of his sources among the French (except perhaps the criticism by Levi's court prosecuter, who way before Waite questioned the verity of Levi's Roman Catholicism).

Perhaps the foreignors who read him were also familiar with latin and several other languages and were more thus more familiar with a range of sources to be more critical than native speakers? For example, Blavatsky was much more successfull among English theosophists than continental - the french and russians were more familiar with the texts she was plagiarizing, which were not available in English.

re: ver punique = the punishing worm? i.e, in religous context, the worm that never dies? (the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched, i.e., eternal punishment).

kwaw
ps: I prefer the silk worm explanation - rings bells for some reason

Some information on the Rabbis mentioned; all are highly regarded Talmudic scholars, considered as חז"ל, which translated roughly to "the gifted among us, blessed be their memory." Samuel HaNagid lived in Spain around the turn of the millennium and was phenomenally successful as a scholar, later becoming vizier second only to the king. Although primarily a poet, he was also a Talmudic scholar, writing to books on the subject. In addition, he was a linguist who knew seven languages, writing poetry in all of them.

Akiva ben Joseph was instrumental during the Bar Kochba revolt against the Romans, around the early/middle second century AD. He was not only famous for his rulings as a Rabbi, but was also highly regarded as a mystic, and the Talmud mentions him 1500 times. I may be getting this one wrong, but I don't know of any Akiva ben Juda, but that doesn't mean he doesn't exist.


Abraham Ibn Ezra was also a medieval scholar, living around the eleven hundreds. In addition to being highly regarded as a Talmudic scholar, he was also an astronomer, mathematician and astrologer.

And Jacob Cohen I don't know about. In any case, any one of them would be more than qualified to supply meanings for the Hebrew letters, they are among the giants of Jewish Rabbinical literature. They would also be qualified to deal with the letters esoterically, since they studied the scripture in practically every way possible.

kwaw said:

......I know at least that Christine T.P. thinks that Waite/Crowley translations, with critical footnotes, were somehow a conspiracy of the English school to discredit Levi (implying, in a way, their criticisms were false), but the fact is while they admired his writing and imagination, their criticisms (especially Waite's) hold up (as far as I have researched them) - and it is hard to find any such critical examination or evaluation of his sources among the French (except perhaps the criticism by Levi's court prosecuter, who way before Waite questioned the verity of Levi's Roman Catholicism).....

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Somehow Christine T.P. D) 'knows' what happened. Levi was admitted to some really high degrees of 'Continental Masonry' (perhaps one of the bodies which evolved into the Rite of Memphis-Misraim (?)), but others (including Waite) were denied admittance, so out of jealousy they tried to discredit Levy and formulated some competing arbitrary nonsense which, of course, did not have its basis in the 'true' esoteric tradition of 'Continental Masonry', which is only revealed to the truly worthy. Presumably T.P. also gained possession of these high secret teachings, to which the likes of Mathers, Waite, and Crowley were deemed unworthy.

Ms. T.P. is certainly very creative and perhaps could benefit by directing her talents to the writing of historical fantasy. I'm sure that Umberto Eco has found this genre to be profitable.

Ross G Caldwell said:

- then he might have got "punique" from the Hebrew for "Phoenician"...
So "Punic Worm" it is, whatever that is.

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Certainly I think you're right that 'punique' here means Phoenician, it is used in that sense for example here:



Introduction à l'Ecriture sainte... enrichie de plusieurs figures [par M. Ogier], trad. du latin du R. Père Lamy... par le P. François Boyer, 1699

The Phoenician/Punic worm was used to make a worm-dye (a dye from some sort of insect), and the word was used synonymously for the colour (a scarlet dye, used much by the Jews.) We have the word vermillion for example - the worm (ver) colour.

In the bible it is tola'ath shani - the scarlet worm. Production of the dye was perfected by the Phoenicians (according to Pliny), hence 'the Punic worm/Vermilion'. The arabic word is kermez which means both the worm and the colour.

So I think you are probably right with your reference to the Phoenician 'purples'.

Ross G Caldwell said:

What interests me is what Wirth's source would be. It isn't our "other Rabbi", and it isn't common knowledge like that given in the Grand Larousse, so it must be a specific and more recent source. The same one would give "boue" or slime, mud, "coating" (hence our Rabbi's "enveloppoit") for Teth.

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Here we have 'boue' for teth - but not 'singe' for kof



La Tribune des Linguistiques: Théorie du langage, philosophie des langues, études philologiques, [etc.] 1858

But both are in Klaproth



Aperçu de l'origine des diverses écritures de l'ancien monde, by Julius von Klaproth
1832.

Note too, that he also gives terme & borne for Tau, and quadruped for cheth (as Burdet).

(I recall Klaproth being referenced in writings of English theosophists and esotericists ... and among the French I think by Papus at least.)

Also here:



Cours de philosophie générale, ou Explication simple et graduelle de tour les faits de l'order physique. Pierre Hyacinthe Azaïs A. Boulland, 1824

...and here:



Encyclopédie méthodique ou par ordre de matières: art, métiers et mécaniques, Volume 1 , 1782

Thanks for digging into this, Steve.

It seems more and more clear that Levi didn't really care about the meanings of the Hebrew letters. He had his Kircher and some Kabbalah, and that was enough.

The founders of the English school - beginning in the mind of whoever wrote the Cipher Manuscript - knew they were creating a rival school, so perhaps it really did matter to them to get the "real" meanings of the letters. It wasn't just an accident of the easily available English sources being better than those in French, I mean.

It is interesting to see Tsadé in your earlier sources as "sides" so consistently, and the hesitating for Mem between "blemish" and "water." "Tâche" recalls the anonymous Rabbi's "Macule" for this letter.