Konaxoλ and a Hebrew Liturgical Expression

THE JEWISHQUARTERLYREVIEW,XCII, Nos. 1-2 (July-October, 2001) 129-130 KONAXOA AND A HEBREWLITURGICALEXPRESSION HOWARD JACOBSON, University of Illinois, Urbana Two onomastic texts, one Greek,the otherLatin,reporta nameKovdxok (Coneacol), and explain it with the equivalents EavTtOKpaTopand omnipotens .1 The Greekversion of the name is found in an onomastic list known as the Glossae Colbertinaeandgenerallyassociatedwith Origen(d. ca. 253) and his school. Some of it may have been known to Origen himself.2 The Latin item is quoted by Jerome (d. 420) and attributedby him to someone (unknown to us) by the name of Symeon. The relationship between the Greek and Latin texts is not entirely clear. Wutz thinks thatthe Latin item is not independentof the Greek, given the several similarities between the two lists. Wutz (p. 239) arguesthatKov6Xokis a designationof God based on the Bible's expression, 'qim omw nyip (Gen 14:19, 22), i.e., 5;n:p.3 Wutz's view is supportedby the fact, apparentlyunknownto him, that52n mlp is indeed anexpressionused of God. Whatis thenquiteremarkableto observeis thatthe phrase52;nnntpof God is apparentlynot found in (extant)Hebrew texts before the 9th century.4Thus,ouronomastictexts provideevidence for the expression five centuries-perhaps six-earlier than Hebrew sources, since the Latintext is quotedby Jeromeand the Greektext may have been knownto Origen.This becomes anenlighteningillustrationof how misleading the chance survivalof texts can be. And yet I am doubtful that Wutz is correct. Both [ravtoj]Kpdcopand [omni]potens seem highly unlikely explanationsof 52ni nnjp.The verb mwp means "to acquire"or "to create,"and renderingit with potens or KparF1v seems improbable.Thus, I think a differentapproachis preferable. 1 See F. Wutz, Onomastica Sacra (Leipzig, 1914), pp. 239, 325; P. de Lagarde, OnomasticaSacra, 2nd ed. (Gottingen, 1887;repr.Hildesheim, 1966), 203.6 (p. 226), 160.24 (p. 192). 2 See Wutz, p. 239. 3 Wutz probably came to this view because several of the divine titles found in the Latinlist arepresentin the narrativeof Gen 14:18-22. 4 So in SederRavAmram(ed. D. Goldschmidt;Jerusalem,1971), 1.38 (p. 24), unless the wording is a later alterationor addition. It is also found in the 11th century Machsor Vitry,ed. S. Hurwitz(Berlin, 1893), p. 16. 130 THEJEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW For KovdXok we should read KokaXok.5 This is Hebrew 5i:) 5D, also an expression used to designate God.6 In this case LavTOKpUT(op and omnipotens will be perfect equivalents of the Hebrew.7 Onthis view, too, the onomastictexts will be providingus with evidence for a liturgical expression that is unknownin Hebrew texts until considerably later, though in this case the gap is probablyonly a few centuries.8 sLambda andnu arefrequentlyconfused. See, e.g., Aeschylus Supp. 1023. 6 Forkaf transliteratedas kappa,cf., e.g., KaplujXog, regularin the Septuagintfor 5&i:; for kaf without dagesh as chi, cf., e.g., MaaXafor tnuv,;for the absence of an iota thatwe might expect for consonantalyod, cf., e.g., MtctIc14I for pn)n, AXt4It for pD, Ywpcov for Inn?Y. As for the Latin:for the use of c to representan original kaf, cf., e.g., Caleb for 1tO;for c representingan original kaf without dagesh, this seems to be a propensityof ourunknownSymeon, for he also has Barucfor int. 7Cf., e.g., luchal (i.e., frm), renderedas potens (Lagarde54.22, p. 86). 8 Thephraseapparentlyis foundfirstin the liturgicalpoem1): inmms-1, fromthe High Holiday services. See D. Goldschmidt,Mahzor la-YamimHa-Nora'im (New York, 1970), 1:225ff.;I. Davidson, Thesaurusof MediaevalHebrewPoetry,2:117,#19. This is usuallyattributedto the poet Yannai,who probablylived at some pointbetween the 4th and7th centuries.Some thinkit the workof the 9th-centurypoet Yohananb. Yehoshua 'Hakohen. I am indebtedto JQR'sreaderfor valuablecomments. ...