Demon
Few days ago in the IHSOUS blog on the translation of the Gospel of Matthew from ancient Coptic manuscripts, the blog master Memra transliterated and translated Matthew 7:22 as such:
ounHaH gar naJoos nai Hm peHoou etmmau Je pJoeis pJoeis mh Hrai an Hm pekran anprofhteue. auw Hrai Hm pekran anneJdaimwnion ebol. mh Hrai an Hm pekran anrHaH nCom
“For there are many who will tell me on that Day, "Lord! Lord, was it not in your name that we prophesied, and in your name cast out demons? Was it not in your name that we performed wondrous acts?”
What grabs my attention in the transliteration is the word daimwnion (Gr: δαιμόνιον). In December 2007 we see a controversial raised by Professor April Deconick on the National Geographic’s (mis)translation on the Coptic word δαίμον. In the Coptic transliteration, we can see that the Coptic word used for ‘demon’ is the Greek loan word daimwnion instead of the native term iH .
The word iH comes from Middle Egyptian Ax, James P. Allen translated Ax as ‘effective one’, and further defined it as the deceased that is “able to live on in a new, nonphysical form”(Middle Egyptian, p. 95).
As Christianity replaced ancient Paganism in Egypt, the old gods and spirits either were forgotten, or were considered as demons by the adherents of the new religion, thus the “effective one” was being equated with the Koine δαίμον. Although the word δαίμον originally mean “inferior divinity” and it was not necessary evil, but by Late Antiquity it had been almost always associated with malevolent, de facto demons.
So, it is not surprising that the Greek loan word was chosen to translate the word with same daimwnion meaning. But why not using the word iH?
I asked the blog master this question, and here is part of his reply:
“I am working with the Sahidic version, which appears to routinely use the Greek "daimwnion."However, according to Crum's Coptic Dictionary (page 89a, b), Coptic IH is found in other Coptic versions (unspecified, but probably the Bohairic version) at Matthew 17:18 and Acts 17:22.Probably, the Greek word was in more general use at the time the Coptic Bible was translated.”
Crum’s Coptic Dictionary does include the word iH, and it seems that iH is more frequently used in Bohairic than other dialects. However, Sahidic was more influential in the pre-Islamic period, and perhaps he is right that certain Greek words were more in use, thus in the Sahidic gospels, daimwnion was used instead of iH.
ounHaH gar naJoos nai Hm peHoou etmmau Je pJoeis pJoeis mh Hrai an Hm pekran anprofhteue. auw Hrai Hm pekran anneJdaimwnion ebol. mh Hrai an Hm pekran anrHaH nCom
“For there are many who will tell me on that Day, "Lord! Lord, was it not in your name that we prophesied, and in your name cast out demons? Was it not in your name that we performed wondrous acts?”
What grabs my attention in the transliteration is the word daimwnion (Gr: δαιμόνιον). In December 2007 we see a controversial raised by Professor April Deconick on the National Geographic’s (mis)translation on the Coptic word δαίμον. In the Coptic transliteration, we can see that the Coptic word used for ‘demon’ is the Greek loan word daimwnion instead of the native term iH .
The word iH comes from Middle Egyptian Ax, James P. Allen translated Ax as ‘effective one’, and further defined it as the deceased that is “able to live on in a new, nonphysical form”(Middle Egyptian, p. 95).
As Christianity replaced ancient Paganism in Egypt, the old gods and spirits either were forgotten, or were considered as demons by the adherents of the new religion, thus the “effective one” was being equated with the Koine δαίμον. Although the word δαίμον originally mean “inferior divinity” and it was not necessary evil, but by Late Antiquity it had been almost always associated with malevolent, de facto demons.
So, it is not surprising that the Greek loan word was chosen to translate the word with same daimwnion meaning. But why not using the word iH?
I asked the blog master this question, and here is part of his reply:
“I am working with the Sahidic version, which appears to routinely use the Greek "daimwnion."However, according to Crum's Coptic Dictionary (page 89a, b), Coptic IH is found in other Coptic versions (unspecified, but probably the Bohairic version) at Matthew 17:18 and Acts 17:22.Probably, the Greek word was in more general use at the time the Coptic Bible was translated.”
Crum’s Coptic Dictionary does include the word iH, and it seems that iH is more frequently used in Bohairic than other dialects. However, Sahidic was more influential in the pre-Islamic period, and perhaps he is right that certain Greek words were more in use, thus in the Sahidic gospels, daimwnion was used instead of iH.
posted by Nishiki at
11:11 PM
1 Comments:
Perhaps there was also a theological distinction. For the ancient Egyptians, "iH" meant a departed spirit of the dead. But for some early Christians, "daimwn" meant a fallen angel, instead of a dead human spirit.
So, just maybe this is why they used the Greek loan word instead of the native Egyptain word.
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