Re: CHAT Bethesda et al. (was: Brithenig-heads)

Ray:
> At 9:15 pm -0400 9/4/00, Padraic Brown wrote:
> >On Sun, 9 Apr 2000, And Rosta wrote:
> [....]
> >>BTW, what does _Bethesda_ mean? It keeps popping into my head when I see
> >>_Bethisad_.
> >
> >It's a town in Maryland. :)
>
> Probably - most toponyms found elsewhere in the world also seem to exist in
> the US  :)
>
> I could reply that it's a village/town in north Wales.  But both & the
> Maryland one are named after the original: a healing pool nrear the 'SDheep
> Gate' in old Jerusalem  (see John, chap. 5, verse 2).
>
> The name means: "house of mercy".   But the text is uncertain.  The King
> James version gives Bethesda (hence the Welsh & Maryland toponyms).  Some
> Greek texts have 'Bethsaida' (house of fishing) or 'Bethzatha' (house of
> olives).   Both readings are noted in the margin of the Revised Version.
>
> Bethsaida is clearly wrong and is a confusion on the part of copyists with
> a Galilean town of that name.
>
> The reading 'Bethzatha' is now the generally preferred form and archeology
> has indeed revealed a large pool near the gate where sheep were brought
> into the temple.
I don't see why the discovery of a nearby ship dip pool supports the reading
"House of Olives" rather than "House of Sheep".

(Oddly, I've always associated "beth" with 'sheep', probably because of
"O little lamb of Bethlehem", and the onomatopoeia of [bE].)

--And.