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Q-D-Š

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Q-D-S (Aramaic/Template:Lang-he Q-D-Š, Template:Lang-ar) is a common triconsonantal Semitic root form used in various ancient and modern languages since at least the 3rd millenium BCE.[1] The meanings expressed by this root are "holy", "sacred", "divine power", "to set apart", and "sanctuary".[1][2]

History

Orgins

The root qdš was used frequently in West Semitic languages as a verb meaning "consecrate", whereas in Akkadian texts, the verb conjugated from this root meant to "clean, purify."[3][4] It could also be used as an adjective meaning "holy", and a substantive referring to a "sanctuary, sacred object, sacred personnel."[4] It was used this way in Ugaritic, as for example, in the words qidšu (meaning "holy place" or "chapel") and qad(i)šu (meaning "consecrated gift" or "cultic personnel").[4] In some Ugaritic texts, qdš is used as a divine epithet. For example, the gods are referred to as "the sons of holiness" or "the holy ones" (bn qdš), and in the 2nd millienium BCE epic poem the Legend of Keret, the hero is described as "the son of El and the offspring of the Benevolent One and qdš".[4][5]

William Foxwell Albright is one of a number[quantify] of scholars who believe that Qudšu (meaning "holiness") was a common Canaanite appellation for the goddess Asherah, and Albright's mentor Frank Moore Cross claimed qdš was used as a divine epithet for both Asherah and the Ugaritic goddess, Athirat.[6][4][7] Johanna Stucky claims she may have been a deity in her own right.[8]

Depictions of a goddess in inscriptions from Dynastic Egypt, thought to Canaanite since she is referred to as Qdš (often transliterated in English as Qedesha, Qudshu or Qetesh), show a woman in the nude, with curly hair and raised arms carrying lilies and serpents.[6][9] Qdš is also depicted in the pantheon of gods at Memphis, Egypt possibly indicating worship of her as independent deity there.[9] The word qdš also appears in the Pyrgi Tablets, a Phoenician text found in Italy that dates back to 500 BCE.[10]

English PWS Aramaic Arabic Hebrew Syriac Geez Phoenician
holy Template:Transl Template:Transl[11] Template:Transl Template:Transl Template:Transl Template:Transl Template:Transl

Hebrew

Qudšu was also later used in Jewish Aramaic to refer to God,[6] and Qudš is the proto-form of the Hebrew word qadōš, meaning "holy".[1] The triconsonantal root Q-D-Š appears some 830 times in the Hebrew Bible, where it is used to express the notion of holiness, and when attributed to God, is used to refer to his unspeakable nature.[12][13] Its use in the Hebrew Bible evokes ideas of separation from the profane, and proximity to the Otherness of God, while in nonbiblical Semitic texts, recent interpretations of its meaning link it to ideas of consecration, belonging, and purification.[14]

The Hebrew term for the Holy Temple in Jerusalem is Beit Hamikdash (Template:Lang-he, meaning "the holy house") and Ir Ha-Kodesh (Template:Lang-he, "City of the Holy "), the latter being one of the tens of Hebrew names for Jerusalem.

Three words which come from this root are Kiddush, which is sanctification of the Sabbath or a festival with a blessing over wine before the evening and noon meals, Kaddish, which is the sanctification prayer, and mourner's prayer, and Kedushah which is the responsive section of the reader's repetition of the Amida.

The Hebrew Bible uses two different words for prostitute (see religious prostitution), zonah (זנה)‎[15][16] and kedeshah (קדשה)‎.[17][18] The word zonah simply meant an ordinary prostitute or loose woman.[16] But the word kedeshah literally means "consecrated female", from the Semitic root q-d-sh (קדש)‎ meaning "holy" or "set apart".[17]

There are two different words, describing places, with this root in the Hebrew Bible. One of the words is the Canaanite village of Kedesh, first documented in Joshua 20:7 and later in 2 Kings 15:29. The other is a word is a place in the south of Ancient Israel, called Kadesh, and menionted in Numbers 13:18–31, Numbers 13:3, Numbers 13:26 Deuteronomy 2:1, Numbers 20:8–12, and Numbers 20:2–13.

Root:Q-D-Š Template:Hebrew: meaning "holy" or "set apart"
Hebrew Transliteration Definition
קֹדֶשׁ qodesh holiness
קָדַשׁ qadash he was holy
קִדֵּשׁ qiddesh he made holy (sanctified/hallowed)
נִקְדָּשׁ niqdash he was shown holy (consecrated)
הִקְדִּישׁ hiqdish to dedicate, he made holy, to sanctify, to consecrate
הֻקְדַּשׁ huqdash to be dedicated
קֻדַּשׁ qudash to be sanctified
הִתְקַדֵּשׁ hitqadsh to become sanctified, to be hallowed (God's name), to become spiritually purified
נתקדשה nhitqadsh (Talmudic) to be betrothed, to be married
מִקְדָּשׁ miqdash temple
מְקֻדָּשׁ miqudash holy, sacred, sanctified
מֻקְדָּשׁ muqdash dedicated, devoted
קִדּוּשׁ qidush (Jewish ritual) Kiddush

קַדִּישׁ

qadish (Jewish ritual) Kaddish
קְדֻשָּׁה q'dusha sanctity, purity, holiness ; (Jewish ritual) Kedushah
קָדֵשׁ qadsh (pagan ritual) prostitute (male)
קְדֵשָׁה qadsha (pagan ritual) prostitute (female)
קֶדֶשׁ qedesh (Canaanite village) Kedesh
קָדֵשׁ qadesh (Place in the south of Ancient Israel) Kadesh

Arabic

The Arabic name for Jerusalem is al-Quds (Template:Lang-ar, meaning "the holy one"), and derives from the Aramaean word for "temple" (qōdšā).[19][11] One of seventeen names used in Islam to refer to Jerusalem, another of these, Bayt al-Muqqadas (meaning "the holy house"), also derives from the Q-D-S root.[19][20] The Turkish word for Jerusalem, [Kudüs] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), derives from the Arabic name.[20]

Loanwords

The word "kudos", originally meaning 'the radiant power of the gods' or 'magical force',[21][22] which entered English by way of the Greek language has sometimes[who?] been analysed as a loanword from the Semitic root Q-D-S.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Bernal and Moore, 2001, pp. 141–142.
  2. ^ Becking, 2001, p. 129.
  3. ^ Botterweck et al., 1974, p. 525.
  4. ^ a b c d e van der Toorn et al., 1999, p. 415.
  5. ^ Köhler et al., 1994, p. 1076.
  6. ^ a b c Albright, 1990, pp. 121–122.
  7. ^ Hadley, 2000, p. 49.
  8. ^ Johanna Stuckey (2007). "The "Holy One"". MatriFocus. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
  9. ^ a b van der Toorn, et al., 1999, p. 416.
  10. ^ Azize, 2005, p. 184.
  11. ^ a b Kaplony, 2002, p. 218
  12. ^ Bales, 1991, p. 48.
  13. ^ Joosten, 1996, p. 123.
  14. ^ Deiss et al., 1996, p. 81.
  15. ^ Associated with the corresponding verb zanah.
  16. ^ a b Blue Letter Bible, Lexicon results for zanah (Strong's H2181), incorporating Strong's concordance (1890) and Gesenius's Lexicon (1857)
  17. ^ a b Blue Letter Bible, Lexicon results for qĕdeshah (Strong's H2181), incorporating Strong's Concordance (1890) and Gesenius's Lexicon (1857).
  18. ^ Also transliterated qĕdeshah, qedeshah, qědēšā ,qedashah, kadeshah, kadesha, qedesha, kdesha. A modern liturgical pronunciation would be k'deysha.
  19. ^ a b Binz, 2005, p. 2.
  20. ^ a b Room, 2003, p. 171.
  21. ^ P. Chantraine, dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque,' Klincksieck, Paris, 1968 vol.1 (A–K) p. 595. Chantraine however argues for an Indo-European etymology
  22. ^ Émile Benveniste, le vocabulaire des institutions indo-européennes, Les Éditions de Minuit, Paris 1969 vol.2,pp. 57–69, relates kudos to Slavic 'čudo' but allows that the use of the word in terms of magical power in ancient Greek is anomalous and that the earliest speakers did not appear to understand it well (pp. 68–9

Bibliography

  • Albright, William Foxwell (1990), Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan: A Historical Analysis of Two Contrasting Faiths, EISENBRAUNS, ISBN 0931464013, 9780931464010 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  • Azize, Joseph (2005), The Phoenician Solar Theology: An Investigation Into the Phoenician Opinion of the Sun Found in Julian's Hymn to King Helios, Gorgias Press LLC, ISBN 1593332106, 9781593332105 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  • Bales, Norman (1991), He Died to Make Men Holy, College Press, ISBN 0899002714, 9780899002712 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  • Becking, Bob; Dijkstra, Meindert; Vriezen, Karel J. H. (2001), Only One God?: Monotheism in Ancient Israel and the Veneration of the Goddess Asherah, Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 1841271993, 9781841271996 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  • Bernal, Martin; Moore, David Chioni (2001), Black Athena Writes Back: Martin Bernal Responds to His Critics, Duke University Press, ISBN 0822327171, 9780822327172 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  • Binz, Stephen J. (2005), Jerusalem, the Holy City, Twenty-Third Publications, ISBN 1585953652, 9781585953653 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  • Botterweck, G. Johannes; Ringgren, Helmer; Fabry, Heinz-Josef (1974), Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN 080282336X, 9780802823366 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  • Deiss, Lucien; Burton, Jane M.-A. (1996), Visions of Liturgy and Music for a New Century, Liturgical Press, ISBN 0814622984, 9780814622988 {{citation}}: |first3= missing |last3= (help); Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Unknown parameter |lastt3= ignored (help)
  • Hadley, Judith M. (2000), The Cult of Asherah in Ancient Israel and Judah: Evidence for a Hebrew Goddess, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521662354, 9780521662352 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  • Joosten, Jan (1996), People and Land in the Holiness Code: An Exegetical Study of the Ideational Framework of the Law in Leviticus 17-26, BRILL, ISBN 9004105573, 9789004105577 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  • Köhler, Ludwig; Baumgartner, Walter; Richardson, Mervyn Edwin John; Stamm, Johann Jakob (1994), The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, vol. v. 3, E.J. Brill
  • Kaplony, Andreas (2002), The Ḥaram of Jerusalem, 324-1099: Temple, Friday Mosque, Area of Spiritual Power, Franz Steiner Verlag, ISBN 3515079017, 9783515079013 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  • Room, Adrian (2003), Placenames of the World: Origins and Meanings of the Names for Over 5000 Natural Features, Countries, Capitals, Territories, Cities and Historic Sites, McFarland, ISBN ISBN 0786418141, 978078641814 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  • van der Toorn, K.; Becking, Bob; van der Horst, Pieter Willem (1999), Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible: DDD, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN 0802824919, 9780802824912 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
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