Nazir
The Jewish title Nazir is often translated as “monk”, i.e. someone like a hermit, who abstains from regular life for religious reasons. But even though there are countless laws & rules for this practice in Jewish scripture, there’s almost no historical record about actual persons following it. So it is likely a spook title: It may be a codeword for an aristocratic spy, who abstains completely from his aristocratic life, to better spy on his subjects in person. The word Nazir may be a pun with nzwr meaning “estranged”.
The Nazir pun in a nutshell
- The Talmudic Nazir is officially a monk title: nzr means “separating” & “abstaining”, so a nzyr is a person who is “separated” from society and live secluded as a monk.
- A similar word is nzwr for being “estranged”. For spook aristocrats, this may mean being temporarily completely “estranged” from aristocratic life, for spying & cover-up.
- My earlier guess was a pun with “veiling” oneself: ˀzr means “veil” & “belt”, so n-ˀzr means “veiled”. However, this is not supported by the scripture, as “veiling” is used in a 1000 other contexts as well, and is not a unique feature of the Nazir.
Semitic n-zr for “estranged”
The Talmudic Nazir is officially explained as a monk of sorts. The word is also often translated as “monk”.
The grammar behind this could simply be that Semitic זר zr means “strange”, and one N-prefixed passive form is נזור nzwr for “estranged”. This could be the actual etymology of the word, though it’s typically explained that way.
This may actually be a valid meaning for the spook Nazir as well: Mostly, the aristocrats employ commoners as spies. But many spook aristocrats also temporarily “estrange” themselves from aristocratic society, and live as moles among commoners.
(As an aside, the word “stranger” seems to be derived from coming from the “edge”. That’s why nazir also means “crown” & “wreath”, i.e. adornments for the edge of the head.)
Hebrew, Aramaic zr = strange, n-zr = estranged
That word for “strange” also existed in Egyptian, as ḏr. Via “edge”, it may be related to Mitsraim.
Egyptian ḏr = strange
𓇥𓂋𓇥𓂋𓇋𓀢𓏛 ḏrḏr : strange, foreign — Egyptian (TLA)
Semitic n-ˀzr for “veiled”
This was my earlier gueass about the pun, which I now think is wrong., as it’s not supported in the pun-encrypted scripture.
The term ازار ˀzˀr izar describes a very long veil in Arabic, and generally and long & thin covering.
In Hebrew (and Persian), the same word mostly describes breeches, wide belts & waistbands. The Hebrew term אזר ˀzr azar is translated as “belt”, and is also a verb meaning “to gird”. The N-prefixed passive נאזר n-ˀzr nezar occurs in the Bible in Psalms 65:6, and is translated as “girded” or “clothed”.
But if ˀzr means both “belt” & “veil”, then the verb can also mean both “to gird” & “to veil”. And the passive N-form then means both “girded” & “veiled”. That way, the Nazir could stand for a “veiled” person.
The scripture does not support this guess, however: The word “veiling” is so central to the spook aristocracy that it’s used in a 1000 different contexts, practically for all aspects of ruling and aristocratic life. As the Nazir title is just one word, it cannot simply mean “veiling”, because a reader would not be able to tell the context that’s meant. So the decryption as “estranged” seems more plausible.
Arabic, Persian, Hebrew ˀzr = veil, cover, belt; n-ˀzr = wrap oneself
ازار ˀzˀr izār : a veil of fine linen or muslin, which, in the East, flows from the ladies heads below the middle of the leg — Arabic (Catafago)
ازار ˀzˀr izār : a veil of fine linen or muslin, which, in the East, flows from the ladies heads below the middle of the leg; any thing, in general, which covers the naked body; trowsers, breeches, drawers; the skirts of a tent — Persian (Johnson)
за̑р zȃr : curtain; yashmak; veil; Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish زار (zar, “wrap, membrane”), from Arabic إِزَار (ˀizār). — Serbo-Croatian (Wikt)
אזר ˀzr azar : to gird, encompass, equip; bind, bound, encircle, gird, girded; Arabic أَزَّرَ — Old Hebrew (Strong)
ازار ˀzˀr ezar : a trousers; drawers; an ample veil; a waistwrapper — Persian (Sulayman)
אזור ˀzwr : girdle; zone, region; It is prob. related to Arab. ’izā́r (= loincloth, wrapper, covering). — Hebrew (Klein)
נאזר nˀzr : girded; Niph. part. of אזר (= to gird). — Hebrew (Klein)
נאזר nˀzr : was girded (Niph.) — Hebrew (Klein)
This word may have existed in Egyptian as well, as jdr.