Editing Ecclesiastes (section)

== Title ==
''Ecclesiastes'' is a phonetic transliteration of the Greek word {{lang|grc|Ἐκκλησιαστής}} ({{transliteration|grc|Ekklēsiastēs}}), which in the [[Septuagint]] translates the Hebrew name of its stated author, Kohelet ({{lang|hbo|קֹהֶלֶת}}). The Greek word derives from {{transliteration|grc|ekklesia}} "assembly,"<ref name="9G2Xr">{{Cite web|title=Greek Word Study Tool|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=%E1%BC%90%CE%BA%CE%BA%CE%BB%CE%B7%CF%83%CE%AF%CE%B1&la=greek|access-date=2020-07-28|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> as the Hebrew word derives from {{transliteration|hbo|kahal}} "assembly,"<ref name="PSipx">{{Cite web|title=Strong's Hebrew: 6951. קָהָל (qahal) – assembly, convocation, congregation|url=https://biblehub.com/hebrew/6951.htm|access-date=2020-07-29|website=biblehub.com}}</ref> but while the Greek word means "member of an assembly,"<ref name="oUdZF">{{Cite web|title=Greek Word Study Tool|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=%E1%BC%98%CE%BA%CE%BA%CE%BB%CE%B7%CF%83%CE%B9%CE%B1%CF%83%CF%84%CE%AE%CF%82&la=greek#lexicon|access-date=2020-07-28|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> the meaning of the original Hebrew word it translates is less certain.<ref name="Evan-Shoshan 2003">{{Cite book|last=Even-Shoshan|first=Avraham|title=Even-Shoshan Dictionary|year=2003|pages=Entry "קֹהֶלֶת"}}</ref> As ''[[Strong's Concordance]]'' mentions,<ref name="Strongs">{{Cite web|title=H6953 קהלת – Strong's Hebrew Lexicon|url=https://studybible.info/strongs/H6953|access-date=2020-07-28|website=studybible.info}}</ref> it is a female [[active participle]] of the verb {{transliteration|hbo|kahal}} in its simple ({{transliteration|he|[[Qal (linguistics)|qal]]}}) paradigm, a form not used elsewhere in the Bible and which is sometimes understood as active or passive depending on the verb,{{efn|As opposed to the {{transliteration|he|hifil}} form, always active "to assemble," and {{transliteration|he|niphal}} form, always passive "to be assembled," both forms often used in the Bible.}} so that Kohelet would mean "(female) assembler" in the active case (recorded as such by ''Strong's Concordance''),<ref name="Strongs" /> and (female) assembled, member of an assembly" in the [[passive case]] (as per the Septuagint translators). According to the majority understanding today,<ref name="Evan-Shoshan 2003" /> the word is a more general ({{transliteration|hbo|mishkal}}, {{lang|hbo|מִשְׁקָל}}) form rather than a literal participle, and the intended meaning of ''Kohelet'' in the text is "someone speaking before an assembly," hence "Teacher" or "Preacher." This was the position of the [[Midrash]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kohelet Rabbah 1:1:2 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Kohelet_Rabbah.1.1.2?vhe=Midrash_Rabbah_--_TE&lang=bi |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref> and of [[Jerome]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Commentarius in Ecclesiasten (Hieronymus) - Wikisource |url=https://la.wikisource.org/wiki/Commentarius_in_Ecclesiasten_(Hieronymus) |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=la.wikisource.org |language=la}}</ref>

Commentators struggle to explain why a man was given an apparently feminine name. According to [[Isaiah di Trani]], "He authored this work in his old age, when he was weak like a woman, and therefore he received a feminine name," an opinion likewise held by [[Johann Simonis]].<ref name="Commentary to 1:1 s.v. קהלת">''Commentary'' to 1:1 s.v. קהלת.</ref> According to [[Solomon ben Jeroham]] ({{AKA}} Lorinus and Zirkel), "This is because, even as a woman births and raises children, Qoheleth revealed and organized wisdom".<ref name="Commentary to 1:1 s.v. קהלת"/> According to [[Yefet ben Ali]], and later, [[Abraham ibn Ezra]] and [[Joseph Ibn Kaspi]], "He ascribed this activity to his wisdom, and because Wisdom is female, he used a feminine name."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ali |first1=Yefet ben |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V-tKAQAAMAAJ |title=The Arabic Commentary of Yephet Ben ʻAli on the Book of Ecclesiastes: Chapters 1-6 |last2=Bland |first2=Richard Murray |date=1966 |publisher=University of California |language=en}} Ben Ali initially meant this in the literal sense: the Hebrew word for "wisdom" is a feminine noun.</ref> This last opinion is accepted by a wide variety of modern scholars, including [[Christian David Ginsburg]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ginsburg |first=Christian D. (Christian David) |url=http://archive.org/details/cohelethcommonly00ginsuoft |title=Coheleth, commonly called the Book of Ecclesiastes: tr. from the original Hebrew, with a commentary, historical and critical |date=1861 |publisher=London, Longman |others=Robarts - University of Toronto |pages=7, and the sources cite in note 9 there}}</ref>