Ashkenaz
The name Ashkenaz ( Heb. אשכְּנז, in the Septuagint Ασχανάζ , in the Vulgate Ascenez ) was used in medieval rabbinical literature for Germany . According to Genesis 10.3 EU , Ashkenaz was a son of Gomer and grandson of Japhet , about whom no further details are given.
In the book of Jer 51,27 LUT the kingdom of Ashkenaz is called upon to attack and destroy Babylon together with the kingdoms of Ararat ( Urartu ) and Minni ( Mannaeans ) :
“Sanctify the nations to fight against the city of Babel! Call upon them the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz! Gather men of war against them, bring up horses, as numerous as locusts! "
The corresponding text should be after 594 BC. Have been formulated. The biblical kingdom of Ashkenaz probably refers to the Scythians . Assuming a spelling mistake, the form Ashkenaz could be based on a confusion between the Hebrew characters Vav (for “u”) and Nun . The Assyrian form was (A) š-ku-za-a or (I) š-ku-za-a , which corresponds to the Greek Scythai . The Scythians were neighbors and allies of the Manneans (later also the Assyrians ) and repeatedly attacked the Urartu Empire . Another possibility of identification is with the Askanioi mentioned in Greek sources , i.e. H. Phrygians . However, the word component -as , which is declared as the gentilicon of the Lycian language , remains problematic .
In the Jewish tradition, Ashkenaz has been the progenitor of the Germans since the Middle Ages , which may be due to an earlier association of his father's name, Gomer, with the Germanic peoples. An equation of Ashkenaz with the Germanic tribes can still be found in the 19th century, among others, with August Knobel , who wanted to derive the name of the Aesir from Ashkenaz. In the early sixth century, the anonymous author of a combined exordium to Hieronymus ' processing of the Chronicle of Eusebius of Caesarea etymologically "Azkenez" with Skandia and concluded: Ascanaci gentes Goticae - "Children of the Askenez are the Goths ".
The Hebrew word Ashkenazim ("descendants of Ashkenaz" or "people from Ashkenaz") is used today to denote Jews of western, central and eastern European origin. Their central settlement area in the early Middle Ages was north-east France and the Rhineland; this is where their ancestors immigrated from Italy under Roman rule , and from here they later migrated to Eastern Europe. The Ashkenazim, whose main language was Yiddish , which is related to German , differ significantly in culture and language from the Sephardi, who mainly lived on the Iberian Peninsula until the 15th century and later spoke Jewish Spanish , as well as the Greek-influenced Romaniots from the areas of the earlier Byzantine Empire .
literature
- J. Simons: The Geographical and Topographical Texts of the Old Testament. Leiden 1959, § 28.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cf. Jørgen A. Knudtzon (ed.): Assyrian prayers to the sun god for state and royal house from the time of Asarhaddon and Asurbanipal. Leipzig 1893, p. 131; Hugo Winckler : Ancient Oriental Research 1 . Leipzig 1893ff., P. 484ff .; lastly Rüdiger Schmitt: The Scythian - an old Iranian rubble language. In: Hermann Parzinger (ed.): In the sign of the golden griffin - royal tombs of the Scythians . Munich 2007, p. 300.
- ↑ Homer: Iliad II 863 and XIII 793.
- ↑ Cf. Gustav Hölscher : Drei Erdkarten. A contribution to knowledge of the earth in ancient Hebrews . Meeting reports of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-Historical Class 1944–48 / 3. Heidelberg 1949, p. 22 Note 9.
- ↑ August Knobel: The Table of Nations of Genesis. Ethnographic research. Giessen 1850, p. 35.
- ↑ Herwig Wolfram : The Goths and their history. CH Beck, Munich 2010, p. 11.