The biggest difficulty with the word origin is that this isn't true. The LSJ mentions the two authors in Herodianus, "λέγεται βάρις ἡ οἰκία, ὡς Ποσείδιππος, καὶ ἡ συνοικία ὡς Ἔφορος." And from the LSJ supplement, in a letter from a Seleucid king (twice that I see). The two other references given are from the LSJ, IGBulg. 400.5 and Insc.Magn. 122 d 4-8 (Rom.imp.), and I haven't tried to track them down.βαρις and πυργόβαρις are only attested in the Septuagint and Josephus
Separately I found it in the Book of Jubilees, 37:17, "τὰς πύλας τῆς βάρεως", translated from the Hebrew Leptogenesis.
Jerome seems to have incorrectly (given the above) thought that it was a specially Palestine-area usage:
Pro eo quod nos transtulimus domibus eburneis, quia in Graeco scriptum est ἀπὸ βαρέων ἐλεφαντίνων quidam Latinorum ob verbi ambiguitatem, a gravibus interpretati sunt, cum βάρις verbum sit ἐπιχώριον Palaestinae: et usque hodie domus ex omni parte conclusae, et in modum aedificatae turrium ac moenium publicorum, βάρεις appellentur.
Statistics: Posted by jeidsath — Thu Mar 28, 2024 3:03 am