RABBONI (from Heb. jit or \\^i) is another form of ' Rabbi,' but was considered a higher and more honourable title. Hence possibly its ])reference by the blind man (Mk 10'^) in his natural anxiety to address .Jesus with the title of greatest courtesy and respect that he knew. The word occurs only twice in the Gospels, viz. Mk W^ (RV following the reading of most authorities), and Jn 20'*' (pajSiSouvi, TR ; pa^/3ouve£, WH). In the latter pass- age it is explained as a .synonym for SiSdcr/caAoj.
Dugald Clark.
RACA. — The word occurs only in Mt 5^-, and ofiers one of the little riddles of the (iospels which have not found as yet a sufficient explanation. It had been spelt 'Racha' in the AV of 1611 ; so in Tindale and other earlier versions. It was replaced by 'Raca' in 1638, and explained 'that is, Vain fellow, 2 S 6^*,' by one of the marginal notes added to the AV at various times, chiefly in 1762 (see the Introduction to Scrivener's Paragraph Bible, p. xxx). The RV confines itself to the marginal note, 'an expression of contempt.' The spelling of the Greek MSS is paxa in K*D, adopted by
Tischendorf ; pa^a in N'^BE, etc., with -d in B, -d in other MSS, as 13. 124. 556 (see Scrivener, Adver- saria) ; paKKa, paKKav, paKav in Apost. Const, ii. 32 ; racha in most MSS of the Latin Versions ; raccha in d ; only /A; Z'=and the official Vulgate have raca ; xpT in all Syriac Versions, vocalized KiJi, xp^, Np-i, Kpl (see the edition of the Tetraeuungelium by Pusey-Gwilliam, and the Thesaurus Syriacus ; it is explained as = nd'B', i.e. 'despised,' by Bar- liebriBUs).
The puzzle in the word is the a of the first syllable, which is not found in the corresponding Hebrew word. It is true, J. Lightfoot (Hot. Heb., new ed. by Rob. Gandell, Oxford, 1859, ii. 108) writes :
' Raca : A word used by one that despiseth another in the highest scorn : very usual in the Hebrew writers, and very com- mon in the mouth of the nation.' Then he gives examples from Tanchiim, fol. 5, col. 2 ; fol. 18, col. 4 ; fol. 38, col. 4 ; ^tidrash Tilliii upon Ps 138 ; Bab. Berak. fol. 32. 2, of which tlie follow- ing are worth quoting : ' A heathen said to an Israelite, " \'ery suitable food is made ready for you at my house." " What is it?" saith the other. To whom he replied, "Swine's flesh." "Raca," saith the Jew, "I must not eat of clean beasts with you."' 'A king's daughter was married to a certain dirty fellow. He commanded her to stand by him as a mean ser\ant, and to be his butler. To whom she said, " Raca, I am a king's daughter."' 'One of the scholars of R. Jochanan made sport with the teaching of his master ; but returning at last to a sober mind : "Teach tliou, O master," saith he, "for thou art worthy to teach, for I have found and seen that which thou hast taught." To whom he replied, " np'"\ Raca, thou hadst not believed unless thou hadst seen."' ' A certain captain saluted a religious man praying in the way, but he saluted him not again : he waited till he had done his jirayer, and saith to him, " np"\ Raca, it is written in your law," ' etc.
But in all these cases the Semitic word is spelt npn (with i/of/), whicli must be vocalized Kp,""}., i.e. Herri; see Dalman, Aratn.-Neuheb. Worterbuch, p. 384 ; Jastrow, Dictionary, ii. 1476. In the first edition of his Gram. d. Jiid.-Pal. Aram. (1896) Dalman assumed that in the form of the NT at bail been contracted to fi, and tliat the sjielling with X in the MSS XI) was due to an aspirated pronunciation of the Hebrew qo/th, by wliich it approached to the aspirated ka2)h. In the second
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(1905, p. 174) he suggested at last a more probable solution, that the word in Greek assumed its form through assimilation to Greek pa.Kos, ' lump ' = rag (a tattered piece of cloth, and then used of a shabby, beggarly fellow). This is possible. But there is another strange and not yet corroborated statement about the use of the word, found in Chrysostom, who was acquainted with Syriac as spoken in the neighbourhood of Antioch. He says (p. 214) that it was not a word 'of the highest scorn,' as Lightfoot styled it :
To hi pa-xoi TovTO ov fjLiyoL\'/\: itrTiv vfSpscii; pyjucCy ocXXac /Lcoi>.Xov
ZOiTd^pOVYitrSiiti a-OCi oKtyUlpiOC? TtvO? TOU XiyovTO'. XfX,UK^ip yocp YifX,il?
Yi olmrcii'^ VI Tim tUv ^cctTxhsErTipuv tTtrotTrovTZ^ XiyoiLiv' a.mXSi tru^ utI tm hsivi (Tu* o'Jraj x.v.t oi T'(i "^upo/v xe^priU'ivoi yXuTTvi poena, Xi- you/7-iv, a.vTt tou iru, rovro TiUivTs;. acXX o cfikxvdpurros uio; acct Tcc ur^cpoTocTa, ocvairT^, zocOy/Zovtm; YiUiv xiXP^<^^a,i ccXXYtXoi; tuKvjojVj
tiOt) fjL-TOi. TYi? rr pO(TYi-A.0illTY;% T;/A>;V, XOU 'ivCC btX ToOraiV XGCt Trie ^i.^OVX
ocvaipy,Ta.i,
In contradistinction to paKo., Chrysostom considers fjiuipe as xaXeTTuJTfpoi', as /i^/xa r^s v^pews Tr\T]KTiKu)T€pOP, for wliich SittXtj yiveraL 17 Trvpd. The same state- ment by a later hand is also found on the margin of codex B, t6 paKo. avri rod (t^j being one of the few marginal notes of this MS ; and a similar state- ment is made in the so-called Opus imperfectum, p. 62 ; but, at the same time, the common ex- planation is there given : ' Racha quidem dicitur Hebraice vacuus.' Euthymius Zigabenus is de- pendent on Chrysostom : To pa/ca 5e e/Spa'i'/ci? etrrt (pix)vr], 8r]\ou(7a rb Si). 'BTret yap opyi^ofxevos ris /caret Tivos OVK a^Lol KoKiffai. tovtov i^ ovofiaros, lis dvd^iov ovj/xaros' d.vTi ovofjLaTOi 5e to Si> Tidyjaiv. Augustine speaks of having heard from a Jew, that H'tca is vocem non significantem aliquid, sed indignantis anlnii motum exprimentem. No example, however, has been found as yet of this use in Syriac. It is interesting to note that Maclean's Dictionary of the Dialects