Editing Pharisees (section)

==Etymology==
"Pharisee" is derived from [[Ancient Greek]] {{transliteration|grc|Pharisaios}} ({{lang|grc|Φαρισαῖος}}),<ref>{{Strong-number|Greek word #5330|G|5330}} in [[Strong's Concordance]]</ref> from [[Aramaic]] {{transliteration|arc|Pərīšā}} ({{lang|arc|פְּרִישָׁא}}), plural {{transliteration|arc|Pərīšayyā}} ({{lang|arc|פְּרִישַׁיָּא}}), meaning "set apart, separated," related to [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] {{transliteration|he|Pārūš}} ({{lang|he|פָּרוּשׁ}}), plural {{transliteration|he|Pərūšīm}} ({{lang|he|פְּרוּשִׁים}}), the [[Qal (linguistics)|Qal]] [[Participle#Perfect passive|passive participle]] of the verb {{transliteration|he|pāraš}} ({{lang|he|פָּרַשׁ}}).<ref>{{cite book |last=Klein |first=Ernest |title=A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English |publisher=University of Haifa | year=1987 |isbn=965-220-093-X}}</ref><ref>{{Strong-number|Hebrew word #6567|H|6567}} in [[Strong's Concordance]]</ref> It may refer to their separation from [[Gentile|Gentiles]], sources of [[Tumah and taharah|ritual impurity]], or from irreligious Jews.<ref name="Shaye">{{cite book |title=From the Maccabees to the Mishnah |url=https://archive.org/details/frommaccabeestom0000cohe |url-access=registration |last=Cohen |first=Shaye J.D. |publisher=The Westminster Press |year=1987|isbn=9780664219116 }}</ref>{{rp|159}}Alternatively, it may have a particular political meaning as "separatists," due to their division from the Sadducee elite, with [[Yitzhak Isaac Halevy Rabinowitz|Yitzhak Isaac Halevi]] characterizing the Sadducees and Pharisees as political sects, not religious ones.<ref name="Dorot Ha'Rishonim">''Dorot Ha'Rishonim''</ref> Scholar [[Thomas Walter Manson]] and [[Talmud]] expert [[Louis Finkelstein]] suggest that "Pharisee" derives from the [[Aramaic]] words {{transliteration|arc|pārsāh}} or {{transliteration|arc|parsāh}}, meaning "Persian" or "Persianizer,"<ref>{{cite journal |last= Manson| first= Thomas Walter |date= 1938 |title= Sadducee and Pharisee |journal= Bulletin of the John Rylands Library |volume=2 |pages= 144–159| doi= 10.7227/BJRL.22.1.6 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last= Finkelstein |first= Louis |date= 1929 |title= The Pharisees: Their Origin and Their Philosophy |journal= Harvard Theological Review |volume=2 |pages= 223–231}}</ref> based on the demonym {{transliteration|peo|pārsi}}, meaning '[[Persian people|Persian]]' in the [[Persian language]], and further akin to {{transliteration|peo|Pārsa}} and {{transliteration|fa|Fārs}}.<ref>{{OEtymD|Persia}}</ref> [[Harvard University]] scholar [[Shaye J. D. Cohen]] denies this, stating: "Practically all scholars now agree that the name "Pharisee" derives from the Hebrew and Aramaic {{transliteration|arc|parush}} or {{transliteration|arc|persushi}}."<ref name="Shaye" />