CEPHAS, A BINDER, AND NOT A ROCK.
(Vol. ix., p. 368.)
I hope you will allow me to give a few reasons for dissenting from Mr. Margoliouth. I will promise to spare your space and avoid controversy.
1. The Hebrew word Caphis is only to be found in Hab. ii. 11. Hence it has been regarded as of somewhat uncertain signification. However, by comparison with the Syrian verb
כפס
(c'phas), we infer that it may denote that which grasps, gathers, or holds together; it is therefore not synonymous with δέω, which is to bind, and is used in Matt. xvi. 19.
2. Proper names from the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac, are generally written in Greek, with the terminations of that language, as e. g. Jesus, John, James, Thomas, Judas, &c., and these terminations are added to the radical letters of the name, which are all retained. It is easy to see that Caphis would become Caphisus, while Cepho (Syriac for rock) would become Cephas, just as Ehudo (Syriac, Jude) becomes Judas.
3. Still less likely would the name Caphis be to lose a radical in its transfer to the Syriac, where Cephos is represented by Cepho, without s.
4. The paronomasia exhibited in the Latin, "Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram," also appears both in the Greek and the Syriac.