On the Anatole

Do people actually LEARN Hebrew or Greek, or do they just use dictionaries, and do it badly? Anatolê does NOT mean the direction of east. It means the newly risen sun, or otherwise the first appearance of anything at all. It only means the east in the phrase anatolê hêliou literally “the appearance of the sun”, and even then only with the right preposition in front, e.g. en anatolêi hêliou “in the east”. It does NOT mean the East in this passage, as anyone with any feeling for Greek will see. The word can mean the time or point of rising of a constellation over the horizon; the Ascendant (as an astrological term); the first half of the morning; teeth coming through; the first sprouting of new grass above ground; the first appearance of a river above ground. The nearest I can get to an English equivalent for it in this passage is the upwelling or the first shining.

Yes, it does mean the Logos. Proverbs VIII:22: The Lord acquired me (or brought me into existence, wrought me) as the first (or at the start of, reshit) his ways (not “his act of creation”).

Tsade-Mem-Ḥet does not mean a branch in Hebrew. It means a new shoot. There are two meanings of the root in Hebrew and in Aramaic. In Hebrew and Palestinian Aramaic it means to sprout, except here in Hebrew. In Syriac it means shining, but occasionally means sprouting or a sprout. Have a look at the root Tsade-Mem-Ḥet in Syriac. Have a look at Malachi III:20. It would definitely be a mistranslation to say either the Hebrew or the Greek word means the sun in Zechariah VI:12, but it would be correct to say that in the right context they can both mean the first appearance of the sun, and a suitable English equivalent in this verse would be “the newly-risen sun”.

Do people actually LEARN Hebrew or Greek, or do they just misuse dictionaries?