The Origin and Implications of OLB "PREST"
Posted: 04 Feb 2023, 02:20
Servus, Männer.
In the days of ancient Germanic societies, a priest was called a "gudja" or something similar thereto. To prove it, proofs may be provided. In Gothic, a priest was called a "gudja". In Ancient Nordic, the word was "gudija", which later became Old Norse "guþi". And, most important of all, a priest in Old English culture was called a "gydda". The reason I stress this last one is due to the fact that Old English is the closest related language to Old Frisian. Thus you would expect the Old Frisian OLB to have a word like *GYDDA or *GJDDA meaning priest. Instead, it has PREST.
PREST does not have its root in Germanic culture, but rather in Hebrew culture.
In c. 250 BC, Ptolomy II requested every book to be translated into Greek in order to be enrolled into the Library of Alexandria. He had an especial interest in the Hebrew Pentateuch, and so commissioned it to be translated by 72 Hebrew scholars. That they might translate the Hebrew word "זָקֵן (tzaqen)", which meant "elder" or "alderman", they used the Greek word "πρεσβύτερος (presbýteros)" which meant "old". Thus, in that Hellenic-Hebrew society, the elders were called "presbyters", a custom which persists among the Christians even to this day.
The Christians of the West—i.e. Catholics—originally used the word "presbyter" in Latin. However, after saying it often, the word was slurred into "prester". "Prester" is actually the proper Old Frisian word for priest—see also modern Frisian "pryster"—and its meaning came from Vulgar Latin. It was the English language which originally dropped the final "er". This lack of "er" in "PREST" in OLB Frisian implies an English influence, as other Frisians said "prester", and this fact can also tell us its dating, and what its motivations were.
The oldest known acts of Christianization in Friesland were the conversions under Saint Willibrord and Saint Boniface, who were both Englishmen. The first of the two was Willibrord, who started evangelizing in Friesland in the 690s. We have no texts from WIllibrord, and none by Boniface in Frisian. It can be assumed, however, that when talking to the heathen Frisians—who most likely used "gydda"—they used the Old English "prēost/prest". Assuming that nobody altered the OLB between Liko Oera-Linda and Hidde Oera-Linda, this provides the terminus ad quem of the text as AD 803. Thus, with the terminus post quem of the AD 690s, the timeframe for the OLB's creation can be deduced to be AD 690-803, most likely by different authors by judging the contents of the book.
The OLB throughout is highly critical of the PRESTERA (priests). In fact, they seem to be its main theme. It talks endlessly about how the priests have distorted Frya's way on earth, and how the priests have distorted the folk's soul for the greed of filthy lucre. It seems here that the authors of the OLB had a particular message to tell, by not stating the native "gothar" to be in the wrong, but rather the foreign "priests". It seems also [see 199/25 to 200/9] that the authors had a particular hatred towards the priests of Phoenicia—i.e. Canaan and Edom, whence the "Rabbis" and the "Kohanim" of modern Judaism come.
If anyone wishes to posit another theory, it must first pass through these three criteria before being sufficient. (1) Why is it PREST and not GYDDA/GJDDA? (2) Why is it PREST and not PRESTER? (3) Why is PREST associated with Phoenicia, and not Friesland?
TL;DR. The OLB word "PREST" tells us that the book was written between AD 690 and AD 803, and that the foreign (Jewish?) priests are not as worthy as native *GYDDUM/*GJDDUM, so far as the OLB goes.
In the days of ancient Germanic societies, a priest was called a "gudja" or something similar thereto. To prove it, proofs may be provided. In Gothic, a priest was called a "gudja". In Ancient Nordic, the word was "gudija", which later became Old Norse "guþi". And, most important of all, a priest in Old English culture was called a "gydda". The reason I stress this last one is due to the fact that Old English is the closest related language to Old Frisian. Thus you would expect the Old Frisian OLB to have a word like *GYDDA or *GJDDA meaning priest. Instead, it has PREST.
PREST does not have its root in Germanic culture, but rather in Hebrew culture.
In c. 250 BC, Ptolomy II requested every book to be translated into Greek in order to be enrolled into the Library of Alexandria. He had an especial interest in the Hebrew Pentateuch, and so commissioned it to be translated by 72 Hebrew scholars. That they might translate the Hebrew word "זָקֵן (tzaqen)", which meant "elder" or "alderman", they used the Greek word "πρεσβύτερος (presbýteros)" which meant "old". Thus, in that Hellenic-Hebrew society, the elders were called "presbyters", a custom which persists among the Christians even to this day.
The Christians of the West—i.e. Catholics—originally used the word "presbyter" in Latin. However, after saying it often, the word was slurred into "prester". "Prester" is actually the proper Old Frisian word for priest—see also modern Frisian "pryster"—and its meaning came from Vulgar Latin. It was the English language which originally dropped the final "er". This lack of "er" in "PREST" in OLB Frisian implies an English influence, as other Frisians said "prester", and this fact can also tell us its dating, and what its motivations were.
The oldest known acts of Christianization in Friesland were the conversions under Saint Willibrord and Saint Boniface, who were both Englishmen. The first of the two was Willibrord, who started evangelizing in Friesland in the 690s. We have no texts from WIllibrord, and none by Boniface in Frisian. It can be assumed, however, that when talking to the heathen Frisians—who most likely used "gydda"—they used the Old English "prēost/prest". Assuming that nobody altered the OLB between Liko Oera-Linda and Hidde Oera-Linda, this provides the terminus ad quem of the text as AD 803. Thus, with the terminus post quem of the AD 690s, the timeframe for the OLB's creation can be deduced to be AD 690-803, most likely by different authors by judging the contents of the book.
The OLB throughout is highly critical of the PRESTERA (priests). In fact, they seem to be its main theme. It talks endlessly about how the priests have distorted Frya's way on earth, and how the priests have distorted the folk's soul for the greed of filthy lucre. It seems here that the authors of the OLB had a particular message to tell, by not stating the native "gothar" to be in the wrong, but rather the foreign "priests". It seems also [see 199/25 to 200/9] that the authors had a particular hatred towards the priests of Phoenicia—i.e. Canaan and Edom, whence the "Rabbis" and the "Kohanim" of modern Judaism come.
If anyone wishes to posit another theory, it must first pass through these three criteria before being sufficient. (1) Why is it PREST and not GYDDA/GJDDA? (2) Why is it PREST and not PRESTER? (3) Why is PREST associated with Phoenicia, and not Friesland?
TL;DR. The OLB word "PREST" tells us that the book was written between AD 690 and AD 803, and that the foreign (Jewish?) priests are not as worthy as native *GYDDUM/*GJDDUM, so far as the OLB goes.
. But please Heere, we all learn here from each other. I hope to hear all that you have found in your studies.