I like Hurtado enough, and I want to trust him on this, but in all things regarding this subject, as I'm sure you must agree, it is better to verify. But by verify I do not simply mean find a quote. Generally, I mean verify, on your own. It's hard work, but it is necessary. It's especially necessary for negative claims (like the above), which are much more likely to contain scholarly error than positive ones.Leucius Charinus wrote:Leucius Charinus wrote:Besides the 318 significance, what are the numerical values of the other dozen (or so) nomina sacra and do they have any significance?
The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins By Larry W. Hurtado
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=w5 ... 22&f=false
P.116
- In none of the other nomina sacra forms (other than IH), however, does the numerical value of the letter combinations appear to have been significant.
Here we only have to deal with 30 or so computations, which is not too bad a price to pay for absolute certainty.
(Or is the idea just to let some other guy do the experiment? Interpreting the results is after all the fun part... )
Given what we see in Irenaeus regarding the missing "6" (a missing letter by this time period) and its mystical significance for early Christians, I am also going to play some light number games relating to "6" to see if we can get anything of significance (especially relating to the number "8," the ogdoad).
I'm also going to experiment with some suspended forms (I even seem to recall seeing STA, which is not on this list, for stauros -- something to check. Okay, I checked. It's found on the dura manuscript, first page of this thread.)
Oh, and here's a fun fact:
https://larryhurtado.files.wordpress.co ... -essay.pdf
No wonder people were so confused about the pronunciation of the christogram ligature (and the nomen sacrum XS), as it was already in use as an abbreviation in Homeric manuscripts or, at least, handbooks of excerpts from Homer (and as one papyrologist put it, manuscripts of Homer are the bane of their research, in that they finally get a good-looking chunk of papyrus out of the ground, only to realize that it is only going to provide another fragmented copy of the Iliad).In yet another instance, the device also appears in the margin of a hypomnema on Homer, Iliad, dated to the first century BCE, the chi-rho here a sign for (marking passages “useful” for excerpting).11
E. G. Turner, Greek manuscripts of the Ancient World (2nd rev. ed.; London: Institute of Classical Studies, 1987), plate 58.
Leucius Charinus wrote:[wiki]Nomina_sacra#List_of_Greek_Nomina_Sacra[/wiki]
- English Meaning / Greek Word / Nominative (Subject) / Genitive (Possessive)
Why do people forget the accusative form? Never mind that.God Θεός ΘΣ ΘΥ
Θεός = 284
ΘΣ = 209
Θε = 14
Θεό = 84
qeou = 484
Κύριος = 800 (likely significant!)Lord Κύριος ΚΣ ΚΥ
ΚΣ = 220
Ἰησοῦς = 888 (absolutely significant!)Jesus Ἰησοῦς ΙΣ ΙΥ
ΙΣ = 210
IH = 18 [significant only in the context of the '318' in the story -- and the gemetria of the Hebrew word 'life' - thus requiring a more thorough cross-comparison with the OT and with Hebrew gemetria to rule out significance in general here...]
IHS = 218
Χριστός = 1480Christ/Messiah Χριστός ΧΣ ΧΥ
ΧΣ = 800 (likely significant!)
Χρ = 700 (likely significant!)
1480 - 600 = ριστός = 880 (possibly significant)
Υἱός = 680Son Υἱός ΥΣ ΥΥ
ΥΣ = 600 (plausibly significant!)
680 - 600 = 80 (possibly significant)
Πνεῦμα = 576Spirit/Ghost Πνεῦμα ΠΝΑ ΠΝΣ
ΠΝΑ = 131
ΠΝΣ = 330 (possibly significant)
Δαυὶδ = 419David Δαυὶδ ΔΑΔ
ΔΑΔ = 9 (plausibly significant)
Cross/Stake Σταυρός ΣΤΣ ΣΤΥ
Σταυρός = 1271
ΣΤΣ = 700 (likely significant)
Στα = 501
TR ('staurogram') = 400 (possibly significant)
Μήτηρ = 456Mother Μήτηρ ΜΗΡ ΜΗΣ
ΜΗΡ = 148
Θεοτόκος = 744God Bearer i.e. Mother of God Θεοτόκος ΘΚΣ ΘΚΥ
ΘΚΣ = 229
Πατήρ = 489Father Πατήρ ΠΗΡ ΠΡΣ
ΠΗΡ = 188
ΠΡΣ = 380
Ἰσραήλ = 349Israel Ἰσραήλ ΙΗΛ
ΙΗΛ = 48
Σωτήρ = 1408Savior Σωτήρ ΣΗΡ ΣΡΣ
ΣΗΡ = 308
ΣΡΣ = 500
1408 - 600 = 808 = ωή
[this was Irenaus' example proving non-significance of the word numerically, possibly for good reason]
Ἄνθρωπος = 1310Human being/Man Ἄνθρωπος ΑΝΟΣ ΑΝΟΥ
ΑΝΟΣ = 321
Ἄνθ = 60
Ἱερουσαλήμ = 864Jerusalem Ἱερουσαλήμ ΙΛΗΜ
ΙΛΗΜ = 88 (likely significant)
Οὐρανός = 891Heaven/Heavens Οὐρανός ΟΥΝΟΣ ΟΥΝΟΥ
ΟΥΝΟΣ = 790
ΟΥΝΟΥ = 990
Summary of original words or abbreviations with known plausible significance
Κύριος = 800 (likely significant!) [Lord]
Ἰησοῦς = 888 (absolutely significant!) [Jesus]
ΧΣ = 800 (likely significant!) [Christ]
Χρ = 700 (likely significant!) [Christ]
ΥΣ = 600 (plausibly significant!) [Son]
ΔΑΔ = 9 (plausibly significant) [David]
ΣΤΣ = 700 (likely significant) [Cross]
ΙΛΗΜ = 88 (likely significant) [Jerusalem]
Now, if we further divide the original fifteen (actually, sixteen) between "christological" abbreviations, "non-christological" abbreviations, and "ambiguous" abbreviations, we get this:
Christological:
Jesus Ἰησοῦς ΙΣ ΙΥ
Christ/Messiah Χριστός ΧΣ ΧΥ
Son Υἱός ΥΣ ΥΥ
Cross/Stake Σταυρός ΣΤΣ ΣΤΥ
Savior Σωτήρ ΣΗΡ ΣΡΣ
Ambiguous:
God Θεός ΘΣ ΘΥ
Lord Κύριος ΚΣ ΚΥ
Spirit/Ghost Πνεῦμα ΠΝΑ ΠΝΣ
David Δαυὶδ ΔΑΔ
Human being/Man Ἄνθρωπος ΑΝΟΣ ΑΝΟΥ
Non-Christological:
Mother Μήτηρ ΜΗΡ ΜΗΣ
God Bearer i.e. Mother of God Θεοτόκος ΘΚΣ ΘΚΥ
Father Πατήρ ΠΗΡ ΠΡΣ
Israel Ἰσραήλ ΙΗΛ
Jerusalem Ἱερουσαλήμ ΙΛΗΜ
Heaven/Heavens Οὐρανός ΟΥΝΟΣ ΟΥΝΟΥ
We can then plot a table of the plausible numerical significance of a name (in either form) and the category of the name.
Christological | Ambiguous | Non-Christological | |
Plausible Significance Found | 4 | 2 | 1 |
Plausible Significance Not Found | 1 | 3 | 5 |
Chi-square value: 4.4868
Degrees of Freedom: 2
two-tailed p-value: 0.1061 = 10.6%
Not quite statistically significant, but still a reason for further investigation. In fact, if we drop the "ambiguous" column out of the table (which we are in rights to do, since we might want to pull some of them to either of the other categories, so it is introducing ambiguity here).
Christological | Non-Christological | |
Plausible Significance Found | 4 | 1 |
Plausible Significance Not Found | 1 | 5 |
Chi-square value: 4.4122
Degrees of freedom: 1
two-tailed p-value: 0.0357
The groups are, in fact, significantly different, with a statistical significance measured by the p-value of 3.57% (roughly speaking, and a little incorrectly expressed, suggesting 96.4% odds that this isn't by chance and that there is a real relationship here, i.e., a difference between these types).
What this means is that the christological names, in particular, seem to have Greek-numerology significance.
Notably, Irenaeus argues against his enemies, who reveled in numerology, specifically with regards to the one unambiguous christological name that doesn't seem to have a numerological significance, i.e., "Savior." He doesn't use the example of "God" or "Father" or something; he goes for the throat, so to speak, of the heart of speculation, which regarded the name of "Jesus" (spelling out "888" in its 6-letter form).
Needless to say, I don't really agree with Dr. Hurtado.
Further investigation should look at which abbreviations show more variation in having their spelled-out forms (e.g., mother, and definitely more than that) and which show much less variation (e.g., Jesus, Christ). This is an understudied topic, and one that requires arduous investigation. Perhaps the surveys done by Paap for his Nomina Sacra book, read at first hand, would be useful.
PS -- Yes, I was thinking of you, LC, when treating this as a formal experiment with the use of statistical apparatus. Hope you find it useful.