Nicknames. — Just as names were originally given on account of some peculiarity in or about a person, so in later times any such jieculiarity was apt through ridicule or contempt to result in a nick- name.
An inscription, indicating the holders of seats in the theatre of Miletus, reads ' Place of the Jews who are called Qeoae^iov.' The designation is evi- dently a nickname given to the Jews on account of their religion. In the times of the Dispersion,
• Transactions of the Third International Concjrrss .for the llinlorii of Religions, 2 vols., 1908, i. 2(iG ; B. K. Marctt. The Threshold of Religion'^, 1914, p. 02.
t EEi iii."3279. : Jh. iii. 3266. 5 Ac 61 0'O.
II Acl. 11 Ac 6M. " Ac 4:« 1 1»>.
tt Ac 19M, 3 Jn U. Jt Gal 6". SS Rev IS" W>.
nil Rev 729^141.
66
KAME
NAME
many Gentiles were attracted by the monotheism anil ima^'eless worship of the Jews, and yet refused to be circumcised or observe all the cbnimands of the Law. Such individuals, loosely attached to the Jews, were niiknaincd <j}0^oo^evoi or <re^6fievoi rbf 6e6v. Similarly the followers of Jesus were nick- named ' Cliristianui, " Christ's peo])le," a base- Latin improvisation by tlie peoide of Antioch, who were notorious in antiquity for impudent wit.' *
2. Names of sects and parties.— Somewhat akin to nicknames are such names as Hcrodion,t evi- dently rliat of a freedman of one of the Herods. These a^'ain lead on to names of sects or parties Avhich are derived from (n) persons, e.g. ' Epicu- reans,'t from Ej^icurus tlie founder of the school ; 'Nicolaitans,'most probably from a certain Nicolas, § the originator of the heresy ; ' Sadducees,' from Zadok.ll
(6) Others again are derived from places, e.g. 'Nazarenes'lF— a term applied to the followers of Jesus from a name given to Him from the town in which He had been brought up ; 'Stoics,'** from the (TToi, the painted porch in which Zeno the founder taught.
(c) Other such appellations are derived from some peculiarity; thus ' Hellenists 'ft is a name given to certain Jews who spoke Greek; 'Libertines' Jt to the descendants of Jews who had been slaves ; ' Pharisees ' g§ from the Hebrew D-f'n? (Aram. [•b'"!5, Stat, eniphat. mis'"!?), meaning ' the separated,' those who had separated themselves from all un- cleanness and illegality, and from all unclean persons.
3. Names and titles.— It does not fall within the scope of this article to consider how an ordinary word such as 615X07171-65, |||| ' blessed,' almost becomes, if not a name, a title ; nor how such a word as ' apostle ' acquired a restricted meaning, and be- came a title ; or again how such a title as ' high priest 'HIT was bestowed on a single individual, as our Lord ; nor yet how the name of an individual, as 'Adam,' *** was applied to Him to bring out some particular function ; but we can see the word Xpiffrds passing from a title 'Jesus the Christ' into a personal name 'Jesus Christ.' ttt A religion in its attempts to gain men from another faith finds the task easier if it can appropriate and employ names ■which custom has made familiar to them.tjt The religion of Jesus, when it entered the Koman world, could not apply to Him the names of the pagan deities— these indeed it degraded into demons — but familiar appellations could be used to convey kindred but higher truths. Kvpio! is an Oriental term expressing absolute dominion and absolute submission. The LXX used it to translate the exalted name Jahweh.§§§ In Oriental cults it ex- pressed such an abject relation between a wor- shipper and his deity. 'The Lord Serapis' occurs in papyri of the 2nd cent. A.D.||1||| The title came to be given to the Roman Emperors. On an ostracon dated A.D. 63 Nero is called ' Lord,' and Festus referring to him speaks of writing rip /cupiy. liHII An inscription at Phikne dated 62 B.C. calls Ptolemy XIII. ' the lord king god.' **** We can appreciate at once the necessity and the advantage of the Christians applying this word to Jesus, making
* Joa. Ant. XIV. vii. 2; Ac 102-22 1316.26. 43. 50 jeH 174.17 18'; E. .Schiirer, //./P 11. ii. [18S5) 308, 314; Deissniann, Liijht from the Ancient East, 1911, p. 446 ; UDB i. 3S4 ; Ac 1126 ; T. R. Glover, The Cunjiict of lieligians in the Barlu Roman Empire, 1909, p. 151.
t Ko 161'. t Ac 1718. § Rev 2»- 15, Ac 6'.
II Ac 4', etc. ; Exp, Sth ser., vi. [1913] 168.
t Ac 245, Mt 223. "Acl7>8. tt Ac 61 (920 11209).
tt Ac 69. §§ Ac 155, etc. ; Schurer, H.J P 11. ii. 19.
IIII2C0 113I, Rol2»95. mi He 31, etc. •*• 1 Co 16«
tft DCa ii. 171, 219; E.r:p, Sth ser., viii. [19141 205.
JJt L. R. Farncll, The Emliition of Religion, 1905, p. 32.
§5} Deissmann, Lifihtfrom the Anc. East, p. 353.
II II II lb. pp. 168, 176. "I"!!! n. p. 353 ; Ac 2528.
••*• Deissmann, Light from the Anc. East, p. 356.