and know the variety of modes in which they are frequently given in the Greek, and other European languages. The convertibility of certain harsh sounds of the dialects of southwestern Asia, into either hard consonants, or smooth vowel utterances, is sufficiently well-known to Biblical scholars, to make the change here supposed appear perfectly probable and natural to them. It will be observed by common readers, that all the consonants in the two words are exactly the same, except that Clopas has a hard C, or K, in the beginning, and that Alpheus has the letter P aspirated by an H, following it. Now, both of these differences can, by a reference to the original Hebrew word, be shown to be only the results of the different modes of expressing the same Hebrew letters; and the words thus expressed may, by the established rules of etymology, be referred to the same oriental root. These two names, then, Alpheus and Clopas, may be safely assigned to the same person; and Mary the wife of Clopas and the mother of James the Little, and of Joses, was, no doubt, the mother of him who is called "James the son of Alpheus."
Clopas and Alpheus.—It should be noticed, that in the common translation of the
New Testament, the former of these two words is very unjustifiably expressed by
Cleophas, whereas the original (John xix. 25,) is simply [Greek: Klôpas]. (Clopas.) This is a
totally different name from Cleopas, (Luke xxiv. 18, [Greek: Kleopas],) which is probably
Greek in its origin, and abridged from Cleopater, ([Greek: Kleopatros],) just as Antipas from
Antipater, and many other similar instances, in which the Hellenizing Jews abridged
the terminations of Greek and Roman words, to suit the genius of the Hebrew tongue.
But Clopas, being very differently spelt in the Greek, must be traced to another source;
and the circumstances which connect it with the name Alpheus, suggesting that, like
that, it might have a Hebrew origin, directs the inquirer to the original form of that
word. The Hebrew (
Hebrew characters) (HHALPHA) may be taken as the word from which both
are derived; each being such an expression of the original, as the different writers
might choose for its fair representation. The first letter in the word, (Hebrew characters), (hhaith,) has
in Hebrew two entirely distinct sounds; one a strong guttural H, and the other a
deeply aspirated KH. These are represented in Arabic by two different letters, but
in Hebrew, a single character is used to designate both; consequently the names
which contain this letter, may be represented in Greek and other languages, by two
different letters, according as they were pronounced; and where the original word
which contained it, was sounded differently, by different persons, under different circumstances,
varying its pronunciation with the times and the fashion, even in the
same word, it would be differently expressed in Greek. Any person familiar with
the peculiar changes made in those Old Testament names which are quoted in the New,
will easily apprehend the possibility of such a variation in this. Thus, in Stephen's
speech, (Acts vii.) Haran is called Charran; and other changes of the same sort occur
in the same chapter. The name Anna, (Luke ii. 36,) is the same with Hannah,
(1 Samuel i. 2,) which in the Hebrew has this same strongly aspirated H, that begins
the word in question,—and the same too, which in Acts vii. 2, 4, is changed into the
strong Greek Ch; while all its harshness is lost, and the whole aspiration removed, in
Anna. These instances, taken out of many similar ones, may justify to common
readers, the seemingly great change of letters in the beginning of Alpheus and Clopas.
The other changes of vowels are of no account, since in the oriental languages
particularly, these are not fixed parts of the word, but mere modes of uttering the consonants,
and vary throughout the verbs and nouns, in almost every inflexion these
parts of speech undergo. These therefore, are not considered radical or essential
