St. Peter is considered to be the first Pope of Rome, and the first bishop of Antioch, (the first Christian city). He is also “the first person to perform a miracle in the Lord’s name” according to the Catholic church.
Peter’s original name is Simon, the son of a man named Jonah or John. Simon was the one who proclaims Jesus to be the Christ, the proclamation of Jesus as Christ is fundamental to Christology. Jesus not only accepts the titles “Christ” and “Son of God”, but declares the proclamation: a divine revelation by stating that his Father in Heaven had revealed it to Simon.
Jesus also selects Simon as the leader of the Apostles, and said he would build his church upon Simon, and gave him “the keys of the kingdom of heaven”. More importantly here, Jesus decided to invent a new name for Simon, this new name is: “Cephas”, an Aramaic word. Cephas semantic equivalent in Greek is “Πέτρος/Petros”, (rendered Peter in English).
The New Testament was originally written in the Greek, from which the Latin, English, and other versions were translated. “Σίμων/Simon”, “Κηφᾶς/Cephas” and “Πέτρος/Peter” are the New Testament’s three different names for St. Peter. These names have long given rise to numerous scholarly theories and explanations. Here is an anthroponymic approach to the meaning and etymology of Simon, Peter and Cephas.
Peter’s language was Aramaic, an ancient Semitic language. Aramaic is related to other Semitic languages such as Akkadian, Amharic, Arabic, Hebrew, Ge’ez, Mandaic, Old-South-Arabian, Phoenician, Syriac, Tigre, Tigrinya, Ugaritic, among others. These languages have a high percentage of lexical similarity with the Sumerian language.
Biblical Anthroponyms
Biblical anthroponyms are proper names, they are not translated but only transliterated to approximate the way they were pronounced. The meaning of proper names can be a difficult pursuit since direct translations are not readily available. Many study aids, such as conventional lexicons, can prove superficial when dealing with proper names. Even a conventional Aramaic/Hebrew lexicon can prove disappointing. An anthroponymic study of the original roots, however, can yield some fascinating results.
On the other hand, the study of the names of the biblical figures, reveals a phenomenon which cannot be without significance: the Bible often uses characters’ names to hint at their roles or tell something about their personalities or their physical appearance. In addition, characters’ actions may hints at the etymology of their names. Understanding such phenomenon, may hold the key for unlocking the real meanings behind these names. For example, in (Genesis 30:24) we are told, tacitly, what is the meaning of the name “Joseph“:
“And she called his name Joseph, saying: ‘May the LORD add to me another son!’” (ESV, Genesis 30:24).
The original Hebrew:
“ותקרא את־שמו יוֹסֵף (1) לאמר יָסַף (2) יהוה לי בן אחר”
(1) => “yŭsĭf”, (2) => “yăsāf”.
According to biblical scholars, The name: “yŭsĭf/Joseph“, is derived from: “yăsāf” which means: “to add“.
Biblical Greek
“Biblical Greek is a language by itself. What we have to find out in studying it, is what meaning certain Greek words conveyed, to a Semitic mind.” [02] The great majority of New Testament words are words which, though for the most part common to Biblical and to contemporary secular Greek, express in their Biblical use the conceptions of a Semitic people. there is a clear internal evidence that N.T. writers, in most cases, were men whose thoughts were cast in a Semitic and not in a Hellenic mould. [03] Probably the most important kind of influence exerted by the Semitic languages on New Testament Greek is in the meaning of certain theological and ethical terms. The Greek outlook on religion and morals differed greatly from that of the Jews, and Greek terms were of course used to reflect the Greek outlook. But the Septuagint translators used these terms to represent Hebrew words which reflected Jewish meanings, and thus gave these Greek words a new meaning. It is often this new meaning which attaches to these words when they are used in the New Testament.
Simon
According to Strong’s lexicon (8095), The name “Simon” is “derived from the Hebrew root שָׁמַע (shama), meaning (to hear) or (to listen).”
“She conceived again and bore a son, and said: ‘Because the LORD has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also’ And she called his name Simeon.” (ESV, Genesis 29:33).
Etymologically, “Simon” appears to stem from the Semitic root-word: [s-m] or [z-m]. The sememe of this word is: “narrowing”, “to shrink”, “to lessen”, “to become small” or “to tear a hole”. It is used to describe narrow holes, small openings, tapering ends, acute angles or indentations (notchs on surface of something.). It is also used as a name for “ear hole” or “ear canal”, and by extension, for the ear itself.
[sĭmmu] (or zĭmmu) is the etymon of words such as: “שֵׁם/šăm/name” (σῆμα/وسم/notch), “סמא/săma/blind” (to tear a hole), “שמונה/šmūnă/eight”, (two hands forming triangle with fingers), Arabic: “săhm/سهم/arrowhead” (acute angle triangle), “zăm/زم/to shrink” and “săm/سم/aperture”.
Examples:
Arabic: “سمع/sămḣ“, “سمع/simḣ” = (hearing), (an ear).
Syriac: “ܫܸܡܥܵܐ / shimḣa” = (hearing), (an ear).
Hebrew: “שִׁמוּעַ/shimuḣ” = (hearing).
[ḣ] represents: “voiced pharyngeal fricative” (Ayin)
Diachronically, pharyngeal consonants (ع , ܥ , עַ) are epenthetic.
“Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?”
(John 18:10)
In summation: the intended biblical meaning of “Simon” is: “an ear” or “ear hole“, and in ‘sensu lato’: “a hole“.
“Hole” here can be a connotation for “key”, For example: Arabic “miftah/مفتاح” (= key) derives from “fataha/فتح” ( = to open) and “fat.ha/فتحة” (= opening, hole).
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (ESV, Matthew 16:19).
Petros is Cephas
The English name “Peter” is an inaccurate transliteration of the Greek word: “Πέτρος/Petros“.
“Petros” did not exist as a pre-Christian Greek personal name, but rather, it was invented by the evangelists (Arguably, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John):
“And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said: You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas, (which, when translated, is Peter)”. (ESV,John 1:42:).
The original Greek:
“καὶ ἤγαγεν αὐτὸν πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐμβλέψας δὲ αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν Σὺ εἶ Σίμων (Simon) ὁ υἱὸς Ἰωνᾶ· σὺ κληθήσῃ Κηφᾶς (Petros) ὃ ἑρμηνεύεται Πέτρος (Kĭfās)”.
“Petros” here is used as a semantic equivalent of : “Cephas”. “Cephas” is the Latin pronunciation of Greek “Κηφᾶς/Kĭfās”. “Κηφᾶς” is believed to be a Hellenization of the Aramaic word: “כֵּיפָא/Kifa”.
According to Wikipedia:
“The precise meaning of the Aramaic word (כֵּיפָא) is disputed, some saying that its usual meaning is ‘rock‘ or ‘crag‘, others saying that it means rather ‘stone’ and, particularly in its application by Jesus to Simon, like a “jewel”, but most scholars agree that as a proper name, it denotes a rough or tough character. Both meanings, ‘stone‘, ‘jewel/hewn stone‘ and ‘rock’, are indicated in dictionaries of Aramaic and Syriac.” [03]
In addition, the Catholic theologian Rudolf Pesch argues that the Aramaic word “כֵּיפָא/Kifa” means “ball, clump, clew or stone” and that “rock” is only a connotation. In other words: “rock” is NOT the denotation of “כֵּיפָא/Kifa”. Interestingly, there is a linguistic evidence to support this argument. The literal meaning of this Semitic word seems to be: “roughly spherical mass or body” but it is used to describe any: “detached piece of rock that has been broken off” as well as “the cavity it leaves behind”. Over time, this “description” becomes a name for some rock formations such as firestones, naturally hewn rocks, and cavities in hillsides or cliffs.
Etymology of Cephas
Semitic: “Kifa”, (Latin: Cephas), stems from the root word: [k-p] (variants: [k-b], [k-f], [g-b] & [g-f]). The original sense of this root-word is: “bending”, “twisting”, “turning downward”, “squirming and twisting”, “curling”, “revolving” “accumulating”, “forms into a sphere”, “gibbous-shaped” or “gibbous-shaped cavity”, “recessed” or “depressed” place, becomes “concave” or “convex”. It is used to describe anything that is not leveled, flat, wide, stretched, straight, elevated, frontal or moving forward. The derived senses include: “to flip”, “to stop” and “to cut off”.
Within anatomical terminology this word is used to designate the socket of the thigh, the hollow of the palm, or the outer-ear, as well as the buttock or any buttock-shaped object or feature. Connotatively, it suggests “rear part”, “lower part” or “southern part”.
Examples:
Akkadian: “kippu” (Var. kippatu & kapāpu): circle, circumference, ring, loop, hoop, tendril, handle of a container, loop-shaped, loop-like formation. To bend, twist, curve, bow, to be curved, twisted, to be bent, to surround something with something. “kappum” or “kappu“: the hollow of the palm, small bowl of wood, gold or silver.
Hebrew:“כַּף/kaf”: bending or bent objects, sling, hollow, bowl, pan, the socket of the thigh, the hollow of the palm. Doublet of: “קוּף/quf” : “needle’s eye”, cognate to Aramaic: “כפא/kufa“.
Syriac:“ܟܦܐ/kapa/kafa”: to bend , to cuve over from an upright position to bend forward and downward, to lean forward, to reverse, to turn completely in position or direction, to upturn, to turn upside down, to invert, to flip. The palm of the hand, a spoon, a cleft in a rock. [04], [05]
Syriac is a Semitic language, originally developed as an Aramaic dialect. Along with Greek and Latin, Syriac became one of the three most important languages of Early Christianity. The Syriac literature comprises roughly 90% of the extant Aramaic literature. [20]
St. Peter “requested to be crucified upside-down, (…) because he felt he was unworthy to die in the same manner as Jesus”. [06]
Arabic:“قف/qŭf/qŭffa”: accumulating, grouping, raising, convexity, pumpkin-shaped bowl or basket, dry sagging tree, raised area of land, gibbous-shaped rock, rocky mound, heap of gravel, to shrink to wrinkle, to dry out, to discontinue, to cut off, to cut out.
Doublets:
-“قب/qăb” = dome, cupola, bulged part, head, human head, leader. to dry out and swell up, recessed place, atrophied, alcove, opening, to pluck, to cut clean off.
(cf. Latin: caput > head, leader, & cūpula > small dome, derived from: cuppa > cup, cask). Also (cf. Latin: cipus > cup, bowel, boundary stone and tombstone).
-“كف/kaf“: To bend and form a circle, to be held, to halt, to cut. Rim, brim, circular cavity, the hollow of the hand, the bowl of the scale, waterhole, rocky depression.
By-forms: “كهف/kahf” (= cave) and “حقف/ha-qaf” (= recessed place).
The sememe (semantic root) of these denotations is more likely to be: “curve”, and “carve” as a derived sense. The probable antonym here is: “straight”.
Biblical “Κηφᾶς/Cephas” is a description used as a name, one of the intended meanings of “Cephas” is more likely to be: fluctuated.
Petro from “petra”
Ut supra, “πέτρος/Petros” is a translation of “Κηφᾶς/Cephas”, most biblical scholars believe that (πέτρος/Petros) is an invented, masculine form of (πέτρα/Petra).
According to Strong’s Greek lexicon (4073), biblical “πέτρα/petra” means: rock formation, a rock, ledge, cliff, cave and stony ground. In modern Greek, “petra” is used in a sense of “gravel” or small stones, while the word for “rock” is: “βράχος/brakhos”.
In ancient Greek, “petra” is used also to denote: “hewn rock”, “torn up rock”, “rock-cut dwelling” or “carved crag” .
The hypernym here can be: “cavity”.
The inferred verb can be : “to hew”, “to carve”, “to tear” or “to cut”.
Examples:
1- “πετραι/petrai”: “ = torn up rock”. [06]
2 – “διστομος πέτρα/distomos petra”: “ = a cave with double entrance”. [07]
3 – “πετραιος/petraios”: Epithet of Poseidon in Thessaly, as he who clove the rocks of Tempi, and drained Thessaly. [08] The sacred sanctuary of Poseidon was built in a cave at the Tainaron peninsula. The path to the interior was carved into the rocks. [09]
4 – Petraea is a surname of Scylla. [10]. In Greek mythology Scylla is man-eating cliff-dwelling creature that devours seafarers and their crews. [11] “Scylla”, in ancient Greek, means: “to tear into pieces”, “to tear apart”, “to tear a hole”. [12]
5 – Petra: a historic city in southern Jordan, famous for its rock-cut architecture. Petra was the capital city of the Nabataean Kingdom. The Nabataeans were particularly skillful in agriculture, stone carving, and rainwater harvesting. Their Kingdom fell to the Romans in 106 AD, who annexed and renamed it as Arabia Petraea.[13].
The biblical name for this city is: “סלע/Selaḣ”.
Hebrew “סלע/Selaḣ” is the semantic equivalent of “πέτρα/petra” [14]
According to Klein Dictionary:
“סֶֽלַע = rock, crag, cliff. [Related to Arabic: sala‘a (= cleaved, split), sil‘ (= cleft, fissure)].” [11] A derivative of this word is: “סלעם/Selam”: to destroy, or to devour. [12]
Arabic cognate of “Selaḣ/סלע” is “Salaḣ/سلع”: “cleft”, “fissure”, “slot”, “crevice”, “crack”, “chasm”, “slash”, “to cleave”, “to split”, “to hew”. “a slice”, “a crack in a mountain” (شق في الجبل). “Salam/سلم” is a byform of “Salaḣ/سلع”: gravel, slab or finger phalanx.
Etymology of “petra”
According to the Hellenist (Renfrew, 1998) “The Greek language is unusual among the languages of Europe in the high proportion of its vocabulary which includes words which are not only not Greek words, but apparently not part of an Indo-European vocabulary either”. Robert Beekes, another prominent Hellenist, argues that words for “stone” in the Greek language are often taken from a substrate language. [13]
The substrate language is a “replaced language” which still influences the “replacing language”, such as Arabic influence on Spanish. The latter replaced the former in the Iberian Peninsula.
Beekes and other linguists are content that: “Petra” is of “unknown origin”, meaning that it is not originally a Greek word. With this being the case, Beekes suggests “a Pre-Greek borrowing”, meaning that “petra” is a loanword, borrowed from an ancient unknown language. [14]
Semitic origin:
There is a good reason to suggest a Semitic origin for the word: “petra”. Greek languages have a long history of interaction with “neighboring” Semitic languages, this includes the Greek alphabet, which was derived from the Phoenician alphabet. Such interaction results in sharing many related words. Some of these words underwent phonological /morphological changes, and became: (camouflaged loanwords), while others are still (explicit loanwords). “Ancient documents and archaeology have shown that the Semitic peoples, especially the Phoenicians and the people of Ugarit, were in contact with other Mediterranean peoples by means of colonizing, trade and correspondence about legal issues etc. Therefore, words were often mutually transmitted and became adopted in a foreign lexicon. This applied to Ancient Greek as well. Although the exact number is unknown, the Greek lexicon contains presumably hundreds of Semitic loanwords. However, when one tries to determine the exact donor language, several problems occur.” [15]
Examples:
01- Greek: (χρυσός/khrys-ós = gold).
Akkadian: (khurāṣu = gold).
02- Greek: (κάννα/kanna = reed).
Akkadian: (qanû = reed).
03- Greek: (κόφινος/kuph-inos = basket).
Akkadian: (quppu = basket).
Arabic: (qufa = basket)
04- Greek: (ωτιον/otiyon = ear).
Arabic: (uḏun = ear).
05- Greek: (ταύρος/taurus = bull).
Aramaic:(tawra = bull).
06- Greek: (χώρα/khura = land).
Sumerian: (kura = land).
07- Greek: (παλιός/pali-os = shabby, dated).
Arabic: (bali = shabby, worn out).
08- Greek: (αρχαίος/arkhaí-os = ancient).
Arabic: (ḣariq = ancient).
09- Greek: (σαγήνη/saqina = fishing net).
Akkadian: (šikinnu = fishing net).
10- Greek: (κούπα/koúpa = cup).
Quranic Arabic: (kawb = cup).
Semitic loanwords are not only in Greek, but also in other Indo-European languages.
Examples:
01- Latin: (picheri-us = pot, jar).
Latin => “ch” pronounced => “kh”.
Akkadian: (Pakhāru = pot, potter)
02- Latin: (sura = calf).
Akkadian: (šūru = bull).
03- Latin: (miro = to look at in wonder).
“mirare = ‘look at’ ”
Akkadian: (amāru = to look at).
04- Latin: (irrigo = to irrigate).
Arabic: (araqa = to pour water).
05- Latin: (taurus = bull).
Aramaic:(tawrā = bull).
06- Proto-Germanic: (auzon = ear).
Hebrew: (auzin אֹזֶן = ear).
07- German: (ton = clay).
[Proto-Semitic: *ṭīn=clay]
Syriac: (ṭīnā = mud, clay).
08- Proto-West Germanic *sparwō = sparrow
Ugaritic 𐎕𐎔𐎗 (ṣpr) = sparrow
Aramaic צִפְּרָא (ṣippərā) = sparrow
09- English: berry ( = Any small fleshy fruit), (= any of various kernels or seeds).
Proto-Semitic *piry-.
Hebrew פְּרִי (pərī)
Ugaritic 𐎔𐎗 (pr /pirû/).
Ge’ez: ፍሬ • (fəre)
( = fruit, seed, progeny, offspring)
10- English:(cut).
Arabic: (qaṭ / قط = to cut).
11- English: (kin = one’s relatives, clan).
Akkadian: (qinnu = family, clan).
Greek “petra” appears to be related to Akkadian “pataru”, which means: “to split”, “to separate”, “to cut off”, “to break” or “to break loose”.
It is the Hebrew: “פטר/piter”: “to open”, “to break open”, “to separate”, “to remove” or “to set free”.
“pataru” Arabic cognate is: [b-t-r] (variants: [b-t-r] & [f-t-r])
1- “faṭar” (فطر) : to cleave, to split, to create. [] “to rift“, “a rift”, “cracked and sticking out”, “to bulge out” “a bulge” .
2- “batar”: (بتر) “to cut”, “a cut”, “batra” (adv.) (بتراء): “being severed”
3- “batar”: (بطر) : to crack open, to butcher.
Here, “a rift”, “a cut”, “cracked” and “severed” are deverbal nouns and deverbal adjectives.
Similarly, Greek “Petra” as a “detached stone” or a “hewed rock” is a “deverbal noun”.
“deverbals” are words (usually nouns or adjectives) that are derived from verbs, but whose meanings have significantly deviated from the verbs that they derived from.
As “loanwords”, in the recipient language, deverbal nouns usually lose their verbal characteristics and operate as autonomous common nouns. For example, the English word “entrepreneur” is a loanword from French, derived from the French verb: “entreprendre” which means: “to begin” or “to undertake”. Smilarly, Greek “petra” may lost its Semitic verbal characteristics.
Petros is Ṣafa
Simon Peter is known in Arabic as:”شمعون الصفا” (šămḣūm ăl ṣăfă).
šămḣūm => Simon
ăl => the definite article in Arabic.
ṣăfă => the equivalent of “Peter”.
“ṣăfă/صفا” means: “to clear out”, “to purify“, “to soften”, “to hew smoothly”, “to cut clean”, “to strip”, “to wipe out”, “solid” or “dry”. It is used a description and as a name for any flat soft rock or mountainside, and by extension, any detached or hewed rock.
Derivatives:
“سيف/saif” = (sword/cutting tool).
“صيف/ṣaif” = (dry, clear, Summer).
“صبة/ṣabba” = (a solid piece), (solid flat rock).
Doublets:
“شأف/šaaf” = (dry, cracked, rough).
“شعب/šiḣb” = (a passage between rocks or mountains).
Colloquial: “سيب/sīp” = (underground water passage), (corridor) and “شيب/šīp” = (large hose).
The Hebrew cognate of “ṣăfă/صفا” is: “šăfă/שׁפה”: “to abrade”, “to scrape”, “to shave”, “to sweep bare”, “bare”. [16] “to lay bare”, “to smooth”, “to trim”, “to rub”, “to polish”. [17]
Doublets:
“ספה/sūfa” = (to sweep away, to snatch away, to destroy)
“סוף/sūf” = (an end), (to come to an end), (probably: day-end, west).
“סיף/sīf” = (make an end of), (sword), cognate to Aramaic: “סַיְפָא/săypā” = (end, distant, blade, sword).
Simon the “Safa“
Clearly, the name “safa” in (šămḣūm ăl ṣăfă) is a deverbal noun, derived from the verb: “to hew” or “to carve”.
In many languages, the word for “stone” originally means: fragment, slice, bit or a piece of a larger rock, eroded and broke away. For example:
– Arabic “ḥăṣāh/حصاة” ( = stone), derived from “ḥăṣ/حص”: (to cut, to break).
– English “gravel” ( = small stones), from Proto-Indo-European “*gʰreh₁w-” (to grind). [18]
– English “chalk”, from Greek “χάλιξ/khálix” ( = small stone), some etymologists trace it back to a PIE root, meaning: “split, break up.” [19]
In summation: the intended biblical meaning of “Peter” is: “to hew”, “a shred”, “hewn rock”, and “a cavity”.
[01] – “Essays in Biblical Greek”, By Edwin Hatch.
[02] – ibid
[03] – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Peter
[04] – assyrianlanguages.org/sureth/dosearch.php?searchkey=23662&language=id
[05] – sedra.bethmardutho.org/api/word/%DC%9F%DC%A6%DC%90.html
[06] – Greek English lexicon 1883,by Henry George Liddell D.D & Scott, Page: 1207
[07] – ibid
[08] – ibid
[09] – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poseidon
[10] – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scylla
[11] – https://ogcmaonline.byu.edu/index.php/category/scylla/
[12] – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylla
[13] – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra
[14] – “A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament”. Translated by Thayer, Joseph Henry, New York: American Book Company. 1889. Page (507)
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