[sc. Named] from Heber son of Sal,[1] who distributed the land to the tribes after naming the settlers Hebrews. This man did not labor alongside the tower-builders, and his language remained unchanged.[2]
Hebraioi: apo Heber huiou Sala, hos emerise tois ethnesi tên gên tous prosoikous onomasas Hebraious. houtos ou suneponêse tois purgopoiois, kai diemeinen hê dialektos autou ametablêtos.
[1]
Genesis 11.14-15: "And Shelakh lived thirty years, and begat Eber. And Shelakh lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters." See web address 1.
[2] The "tower-builders" refers to the tower of Babel (see also under
alpha 425,
sigma 154), where the languages of the people were confused, giving rise to a proliferation of tongues; see
Genesis 11.1-9. Until the development of modern linguistics, most Christians believed that Hebrew was the pre-Babelic language, although the name of the pre-Babelic language is not given in
Genesis (nor is the explanation that Eber did not work alongside the tower-builders). See Umberto Eco's
The Search for the Perfect Language for a popular modern discussion.
cf. George the Monk,
Chronicon 52.5 ff.; Malalas p. 11.15ff.
The origin of the word Hebrew might well be "descendants of Eber", or it could be via folk etymology from the root עבר
ʿ-b-r, meaning to cross over; Abraham, first to be called עברי
ʿiḇrī, crossed over from Ur to Canaan, though his name אברהם
ʾaḇraham is unrelated, starting with alef, not ʿayin.
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