Talk:Capernaum

message: Wouldn't the name of the city be in Aramaic? The two languages are mutually intelligible and the name is noted for being a general phrase ("village of comfort") and not based on the prophet from the Hebrew scriptures. The only writing from the early eras mentioned here is in the synagogue, where the inscription is in Greek and Aramaic. This seems to imply anyone who would read it would know one of those two languages, so wouldn't the name of the village have meaning in Aramaic? The Hebrew word for village (כפר), which is a part of the name Capernaum, is even said to derive from the Aramaic word (כַּפְרָא) on Wiktionary. Bagabondo (talk) 06:51, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wouldn't the name of the village also be in Aramaic? 

message: As said above, the word "Kfar" (כפר) means "village". On the other hand, I could not find any source to verify that "Naḥum" (נחום) means "comfort".
* I'm a native Hebrew speaker (negligible)
* This interpretation is not in the matching Hebrew article: https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9B%D7%A4%D7%A8_%D7%A0%D7%97%D7%95%D7%9D
* Or the Hebrew Wiktionary article "נחום": https://he.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D7%A0%D7%97%D7%95%D7%9D
* Or the English one: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Nahum
The Academy of the Hebrew Language also agreed with me, in the email below (translated).
It's possible this is a mistranslation from the word Nohut (נוחות), meaning comfort, as in comfortable.
Also, "to comfort" and "to console" are both valid translations of the word לנחם, who's matching noun(?) is Nihum, also written נחום just like Nahum.
Perhaps rather than being translated to "consolation" it was translated to "comfort".
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email:
Greetings, ⁣
We are not familiar with this interpretation, and it's also not likely.
The name biblical name Nahum is usually attributed to the root נ.ח.ם, meaning to console or alleviate grief, as in the words לנחם, נחמה etc. and there is no reason the "Nahum" component in the name of the village would be of a different origin (unless there is other evidence relating to its etymology, which to our knowledge there isn't).
Best regards,
Tamar Katsir
The Scientific Secretariat, Academy of the Hebrew Language
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original email:
תשובה – משמעות המילה "נחום" כ"נוחות" [#159153]
שלום רב,
המשמעות הזאת איננה מוכרת לנו, וגם איננה מסתברת כל כך. את השם המקראי נחום מקובל לשייך לשורש נח'ם שעניינו עידוד והקלה של צער כבמילים לנחם, נחמה ועוד, ואין סיבה שהרכיב 'נחום' בשם המקום יהיה שונה מזה במקורו (אלא אם כן יש עדויות אחרות בעניין גיזרונו, ולמיטב ידיעתי אין). 
בברכה,
תמר קציר
המזכירות המדעית, האקדמיה ללשון העברית
תוכן הפנייה:
אקדמיה נפלאה שלום, קראתי היום את ערך הויקיפדיה באנגלית על "כפר נחום": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capernaum בתחילת החלק Toponymy נאמר שמשמעות השם "כפר נחום" בעברית היא "כפר הנוחות". אין ציון של זה בערך ויקיפדיה בעברית, ולא הצלחתי למצוא באינטרנט פירוש של המילה "נחום" כ"נוחות" (או ככל דבר שאינו הדמות התנ"כית). האם מוכרת לכם המשמעות הזו? תודה רבה!
Globnork (talk) 19:49, 12 July 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Disputed accuracy of "village of comfort" as the meaning of the name 

message: See discussion at Talk:Al-Samakiyya. Distinction: "tribal area" is fundamentally different from "village".
Kfar Nahum/Capernaum was abandoned in the 11th c. No village was ever reestablished at the site, none that could have been "depopulated" in 48. The as-Samakiyya tribal area (not the as-Samakiyya village!) had a total population of 330 Muslims shortly before 48, that was all, and the hamlet ("village") was several 100 m away. The Franciscans had bought a piece of open land long before, with vaguely visible ancient ruins and nothing else on it, built one stone house there and excavated the rest. No village. Arminden (talk) 07:55, 10 March 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Not part of any modern "village"