214 REV. W. ST. CLAIR TTSDALL, D.D., OX THE BOOK OF DANIEL : 



since Herodotus states that every Babylonian man of any impor- 

 tance carries a staff {(TKi)7TTpov) with an ornate top. 



13. Sarah, a chieftain, head man, from Avestic sarali-, head. 

 The termination -aka (later -ah) was often adjectival in ancient 

 Persian : but it occurs with nouns also, as here ; more frequently 

 in the papyri than in Dan. It became very common in Pahlavi. 

 Perhaps sarak is the only occurrence of the termination forming 

 a noun in Daniel, but in the Eg.-Aram. papyri we ]ia.ye fratar-ak 

 (P. Strassburg, line 4), gusJiak (ibid., B, line 4) [and Seimnakdnln 

 (P. 13472, line 6), " people of Syene " ; here we have not the 

 -ka but -kan or -kani\. The termination -ka, as adjectival, is 

 common in Sanskrit, Pali, Avestic, etc., as well as in Greek and 

 practically in all Aryan tongues ; but as forming nouns it is very 

 rare in the oldest dialects of Persian. In the three words we 

 have quoted, sarak (Daniel), gCishak and fratarak (Eg.-Aram. 

 papyri) the termination does not form a diminutive, as in the 

 later Persian is so common {cf. Sansk. Prathama-ka). 



14. Nidneh or nidneh (Dan. ^di, 15) is a word which assumes 

 various modifications at the hands of editors (including the 

 conjecture "^^"^ ^p^?-, which hardly needs consideration). 

 Baer reads "^^l?? Kautzsch I^^l?; Noldeke and Bevan 

 nj'l^, considering that the feminine pronominal suffix is 

 incorporated. In the Talmud and Targums the word occurs in 



use as ^^7^ 3,nd "^.rl^. It occurs as and 1"!? ^ 



the Hebrew of i Chron. xxi, 27, where it clearly denotes the 

 sheath of a sword. (This is evidently not the somewhat similar 

 word which is found in Ezek. xvi, 33, and which is from the Assy- 

 rian nadnu, nidnu, nindanu, nudnu, nudunnu, nudinnu, " d. 

 gift, a dowry.") The word we are now considering does not actu- 

 ally occur in either Avestic or Achaemenian texts, but no doubt is 

 possible about its derivation. The root in Avestic is da, to give, 

 to put {hihcofjbi, tlOtj/jll, dare), Sansk. dhd, to place, da to 

 give. (In Av. and Ach. the distinction between these roots is 

 generally lost, though preserved in Greek and Sanskrit.) In both 

 Avestic and Achaemenian the root forms compounds with the 

 preposition ni- ; hence we have Avestic ni-dd, to give up, hand 

 over ; Sansk. ni-dhd^ to deposit, put in, fix in. From the com- 

 pound root we have in Avestic the words nidhditi, nidhdta, a 

 putting off, put do^Ti, connected ; nature, abundance ; stored up ; 

 and in Sanskrit nidhdna, a receptacle. This latter word must 



