Personal Names in the Samaria Papyri

Abstract

This paper records and analyzes the personal names found in the Samaria Papyri and papyrus fragments found in the Wâdī ed-Dâliyeh. The mixture of names of men and women, many belonging to a slave-owning elite, many belonging to slaves being bought and sold, together with names of Samaritan officials, gives a cross section of the onomasticon of the populace of Samaria, the city and the province. The largest single category of names consists of Yahwistic names, names compounded with yhw or yh. This characteristic belongs both to the names of owners and, surprisingly, of slaves. There are foreign (or pagan) names in the papyri, but no more than are found in Judaea in this late Persian period. The character of the personal names in the Samaria Papyri, and their heavy Yahwistic and Hebrew count, has direct bearing on questions of the historical accuracy of the Jewish polemic against the Samaritans, found both in the Bible and in even harsher terms in subsequent times.

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