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Aphaeresis

Front-Cut

Aphaeresis is an etymological figure of speech in which the first letter or syllable of a word is cut off. The figure mirrors Apocope (end-cut): where Apocope strips the end, Aphaeresis takes the beginning. In Scripture the figure carries theological weight whenever applied to proper names — a severed name-beginning often signals a severed hope or destiny.

Etymology

Greek ἀφαίρεσις (aphairesis), “a taking away”, from the verb ἀφαιρεῖν (aphairein), “to take away” — a compound of ἀπό (apo, “away”) and αἱρεῖν (hairein, “to take”). Bullinger renders the English equivalent as FRONT-CUT.

Definition

The figure is the omission of a letter or syllable at the beginning of a word. English examples: ‘neath for beneath, ‘mazed for amazed. Ordinarily a neutral morphological operation, Bullinger notes that in Scripture it means more than typographical shortening when applied to a name: then the cutting of the name-beginning marks a cutting of what that name means.

Biblical Examples

Coniah for Jeconiah (Jer. 22:24, cf. 1 Chr. 3:16-17):

  • 1 Chr. 3:16 — The king’s son is named in full Jeconiah — Hebrew “Let Jehovah establish”. A name full of hope for the Davidic line.
  • Jer. 22:24 — “As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence.” Here the name itself is cut — Jeconiah becomes Coniah. The Front-Cut signals the divine purpose to cut him off from his throne.
  • Jer. 22:30 — “Write ye this man childless”. None of his seven sons (1 Chr. 3:17-18) sat upon his throne; only his grandson Zerubbabel became governor after Coniah died in Babylon (2 Kgs. 25:29-30).

Bullinger observes: Josiah’s family is remarkable for the manner in which the names are broken precisely as their kingdom is overtaken by disaster. Josiah (= “Let Jehovah heal”) gave his son the name Eliakim (= “God will establish”), later changed to Jehoiakim (= “Jehovah will establish”); his son was Jehoiachin/Jeconiah (“Jehovah will establish”) — but this last hope is withdrawn through the Aphaeresis to Coniah.

  • apocope — end-cut; the mirror figure in which the end of a word is cut off

Source

E.W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible (1898), pp. 149-150.

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