I have attempted to ascertain the _primary_ signification of the word
"[Greek: adelphos]," for the purpose of laying down a rule for its right
interpretation in the sacred scriptures. If I have succeeded, we may be
enabled to understand rightly one or two disputed passages in the New
Testament, of which I hope to treat in a subsequent number.
Thus says Scapula on the word:
"[Greek: Adelphos], frater proprie, frater uterinus; fit enim a
dictione [Greek: delphys], uterus; et [Greek: a] significante
[Greek: homou], pro [Greek: homodelphos]."
His etymology, as far as it goes, is quite correct: but still, we must
trace its different parts up to the fountain-head, in order to
understand the word aright. Let us then first take away its prefix
[Greek: a], and its constructive affix [Greek: os], and the remaining
[Greek: delph] will be found to be a compound word, derived from the
Sanscrit language, proving its identity therewith by means of the
intermediate Semitic dialects.
Chaldee _dul_, situla, urna, _a vessel_ for holding liquor. Arabic
_dal_, a fat _woman_. These primary steps lead us to a passage in Isaiah
li. 1., "the _hole_ of the _pit_:" where the _idea_ (not the word) is
contained, and forms a connecting link between the Chaldee and Sanscrit;
where, by taking _t_ for _d_ (a letter of the same organ), we have
Sanscrit _tal_, a _hole_, _pit_, cause, origin, &c.; _talla_, a young
woman, _reservoir_, _pit_, &c.; Greek (from the Syriac) [Greek:
talitha], a damsel, Mark v. 41.; and by affixing the Sanscrit _pha_, or
_pa_, _fruitfulness_, nourishment, drink, &c., we get _talpa_, a wife,
bed, &c. Hebrew _dalaph_, stillavit. Syriac _dalpha_, conjunctio
venerea. Delilah, a proper name, Judges xvi. 4. We thus ascertain that
[Greek: del-ph] relates to the fruit or fruitfulness, &c. of the womb:
and by putting the constructive affix [Greek: ys] = the Sanscrit _as_ or
_us_, we have [Greek: delphys], uterus, &c.
We now come to the most important part of the compound [Greek:
adelphos], viz. the Sanscrit [=a] = [Greek: homou], simul, at the same
time; and we find that this [=a] refers us to "a limit conclusive" (to
_that_ place, to that time), and also to a "limit inceptive" (_from_
THAT _place_, from that time); consequently, the _primary_ meaning of
[Greek: a-del-ph-os], is what Scapula has defined it to be, "frater
uterinus," a brother _to_, or _from the_ SAME _womb_.
My deduction from hence is, that where the context, or history, does
_not_ point us to a more general sense of the word, _i.e._ to relatives
such as cousins, or to the whole _human_ race adopting the same term;
_correct_ criticism seems to demand the signification of the word in its
_primary_ meaning.