Friday, June 25, 2010

Marcion is the Diminutive Form of Marcus in Syriac Too

I just brought forward Hilgenfeld's arguments in favor of Marcion being a diminutive form of Marcus in Greek.  Now I have realized also that Marcion is also a diminutive of Mark in Syriac (actually it is something that a professor of Semitic languages showed me years ago in university but I somehow pushed it to the back of my mind). 


Marqiyon would be (theoretically at least) the diminutive of Marqos. In other Aramaic dialects it would Marqai or Marqon.  I think Marcion was a name originally established in Syriac or Aramaic and then translated into Greek. The first witness is Polycarp; Polycarp was a native Aramaic speaker as was Irenaeus (more on that later). 


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