Bar (prefix)

See also Bar (grammar)

BAR (prefix) (Heb. בַּר, H1337), is understood as an Aramaism in Heb. for Ugaritic-Phoen. and Heb. בֵּן, H1201. Its use in Psalm 2:12 demonstrates its antiquity in Heb. usage. A common patronymic is formed by attaching the prefix bar- to the father’s name thus forming a simple construct chain, i.e. bar plus Abbas = “Son of Abbas.” An important occurrence is in Daniel 7:13; Aram. בַּ֥ר אֱנָ֖שׁ, “Son of man,” and is utilized as Christ’s self-title frequently in the gospel narratives. [G. Vos, The Self-Disclosure of Jesus (1948)]. The term regularly referring to closest kinship in the Sem. order of concentric familial relationship, therefore often means “of the class of” and “related to” as well as “son of.”