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Hebrews in Ancient Britain.

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  • Hebrews in Ancient Britain.

Two Sources:

Contents:
1. The early settlement of Jews in Devon and Cornwall by Rabbi Bernard Susser.

2. Similar Expressions in Hebrew and Welsh by MOSES MARGOLIOUTH.
(a) Phoenicians and Hebrews in Spain and Britain.
(b) Welsh Expressions in Hebrew and English.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

1. The early settlement of Jews in Devon and Cornwall by Rabbi Bernard Susser.

The Jews of South-West England
(continuation)

Thesis by Rabbi Bernard Susser


Chapter One

The early settlement of Jews in Devon and Cornwall
https://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/susser/thesis/thesischapterone.htm

Part 1

Ancient traces of the Jews in Devon and Cornwall

No decisive evidence has been adduced to show the presence of organized Jewish communities in England before 1070 A.D., but there is some varied evidence worthy of consideration indicative of the presence of Jews in Britain before this date, and especially in Devon and Cornwall. Writers on Anglo-Jewish history from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries have suggested that Jews first visited England in company with the Phoenicians about the time of King Solomon. This suggestion was based on the links between the Kingdoms of Judah and Tyre. [I Kings, vii, 14 and I Kings, xvi, 31.] Ancient historians referred to Phoenician voyages to the Cassiterides, later identified as Britain, in search of tin and lead, and it was thought likely that Jews had accompanied them. [M. Margoliouth, History of the Jews in Great Britain (1851), I, 9-15 (afterwards quoted as Margoliouth, Jews in Great Britain).] That there may have been some connection between the inhabitants of Devon and Cornwall and the dwellers on the Palestinian coast line is shown by food habits which they still hold in common. Both areas use saffron in cooking, particularly in the baking of cakes. [J. Bannister, 'Jews in Cornwall', Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, II (1867), 324 (afterwards quoted as Bannister, 'Jews in Cornwall'), usefully summarizes all the arguments.] In these two regions as well as in Brittany, which was also under Celtic influence, clotted cream is manufactured. [S. Applebaum, 'Were there Jews in Roman Britain?' Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England (afterwards quoted as TJHSE), XVII (1950), (afterwards quoted as Applebaum, Roman Britain), p. 189.] A further indication of some degree of intercourse between the ancient Israelites and Celts is the similarity in sound and meaning of words and phrases in the Hebrew and Celtic languages. [Margoliouth, Jews in Britain, I,23. For 300 Ancient British expressions which are also Hebrew homonyms and synonyms, see H. Rowlands, Mona Antiqua Restaurata quoted in T. S. Duncombe, The Jews of England (1866), p. 25, where he mentions some 30 examples, and M. Margoliouth, Vestiges of the Historic Anglo-Hebrews in East Anglia (1870), p. 14, and p. 65 where he quotes eight phrases.] So much so, that in 1827 the British and Foreign Bible Society distributed Hebrew Bibles among the Cornish as being nearest the vernacular. [E. N. Adler, History of the Jews of London (Philadelphia, 1930), p. 1.]


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2. Similar Expressions in Hebrew and Welsh by MOSES MARGOLIOUTH.
(a) Phoenicians and Hebrews in Spain and Britain.
(b) Welsh Expressions in Hebrew and English.


(a) Phoenicians and Hebrews in Spain and Britain.

THE JEWS IN GREAT BRITAIN:

BEING A SERIES OF SIX LECTURES,

DELIVERED IN THE LIVERPOOL COLLEGIATE INSTITUTION,

ON THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS IN ENGLAND.

BY THE REV. MOSES MARGOLIOUTH,

INCUMBENT OF GLASNEVIN, DUBLIN.

1846.  London.
LECTURE I.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/67851/67851-h/67851-h.htm
But we also read of Israel's monarch (1 Kings, x. 21, 22) # And all King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver; it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon.

# For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, &c.# Now if Tharshish be Spain, the conclusion is inevitable, the Israelites must have visited the western countries in the days of Solomon.

The conclusion resulting from the examination of the meaning of Tarshish, is confirmed by two very ancient sepulchral monuments found in Spain. As these monuments attracted the attention of the learned Christian antiquarians about two hundred years ago, it may not be uninteresting to give a short sketch of their history, and especially since they form an important link in the chain of evidence of the very early wanderings of the Jews.

The Duke of Savoy, formerly viceroy of Valencia, presented Francis Gozanga, Bishop of Mantua and General of the Franciscans, with a manuscript which was originally dedicated to Alfonso Duke of Segorbe and Count of Ampurias, written in an antique Spanish dialect, in which the ruins of Saguntum are noticed. After many Roman monuments being described, a sepulchral monument, bearing a Hebrew epitaph, is mentioned as being of far greater antiquity than the Roman monuments; for the characters were more ancient than the square alphabet now in use, which must have been the Samaritan, as those characters were used by the Hebrews prior to their Babylonish captivity. In consequence of the stone being much fractured and defaced, the following could only be decyphered, but which gives us still a somewhat correct idea of its date. It runs thus:. .1

of which the following is the Spanish manuscript version:"De Adoniram la fossa es esta, que vigne Salomo del Re servent dia, y mori tribut lo pera rebre...." The following is a literal English translation: "This is the grave of Adoniram, the servant of King Solomon, who came to collect the tribute, and died on the day...."

Appian tells us, that the Spaniards of his time used to perform the passage to Britain in half a day.1 Britain was a place of attraction to mercantile persons at a very early period, and London was styled by the ancients, at a remote date, 'nobile emporium.' There remaineth now no doubt whatever respecting the early intercourse between the Phoenicians and the Britons, all historians are unanimous upon it.

Sir Isaac Newton tells us, "With these Phoenicians came a sort of men skilled in religious mysteries. Might they not have been Jews? True it is that we cannot appeal to monuments in order to establish our position; but we can, at the same time, appeal to the languages of the Hebrews and ancient Britons, which furnish a strong argument that they have known something of each other.


I begin with the name your country bears, viz. Britain. Various are the conjectures which antiquarians and philologists advanced in order to account why this island is so called. Herodotus calls the British Isles Cassiterides, which signifies, the islands of tin. It is a name whereby the Phoenicians jealously contrived to conceal from their Mediterranean neighbours the locality of these islands, being the remote sources of their wealth. Now, Strabo calls Britain  Bretanike. Bochart, a profound Oriental scholar, shows that Bretanike   is a corruption of the Hebrew words   Barat-Anach, which are in signification the same with Cassiterides.1 Is it not highly probable that Jews came over to this island with the Phoenicians, and named it according to its peculiar quality; which designation was ultimately adopted by the aborigines when they began to have intercourse with the Jews.

Any one having paid critical attention to the early history of this country, can scarcely remain in doubt as regards the existence of an intimate acquaintance between the Jews and the old Britons or Welch. An eminent Cornish scholar of last century, who devoted a great deal of his time to prove the affinity between the Hebrew and Welch languages, observes,1 "It would be difficult to adduce a single article or form of construction in the Hebrew grammar, but the same is to be found in Welch, and that there are many whole sentences in both languages exactly the same in the very words." From two columns of quotations, which he adduces, I select the following for your satisfaction, and shall translate them according to the Welch:


(b) Welsh Expressions in Hebrew and English.

1   See Monthly Magazine, 1796, vol. ii., p. 543.

(Slightly Adapted  for the Modern Reader   by Brit-Am).
Key:
H. = Hebrew.
W. = Welsh.
TH. Translation of Hebrew.
TW. Translation of Welsh.

H. Bnei Elim.
TH. Sons of the Mighty.
W. Beni Elyv,
TW. Reared ones of power. Ps. xxix. 1.

H. Mechiah Matim.
TH. Raise to Life the Dead.
W. Mychweii Methion,
TW. Thou dost quicken those that have failed.

H. Bela Adoni et col naot Yaacov.
TH. The Lord has swallowed up all the pleasant places of Jacob.
W. By-llwng adon-ydh holl neuodh Iago,
TW. The Lord has swallowed up all the tabernacles of Jacob. Lam. ii. 2.

H. Derec Baitah Yitsad.
TH. The way of her home would he step to.
W. Dyrac buth-hi ai-i-sengyd,
TW. The avenue of her dwelling he would go to tread. Prov. vii. 8.

H. Darci Sheol Baitah yoredet al CHadrei Movet.
TH. The way of Sheol (underworld) her above descends to to the chambers of death.
W. Dyracei sol buth-hi ea-warededh ill cadeiriau moth.
TW. That leads to vileness is her abode, going the descent to the seat of failing. Prov. vii. 27.

H. Baruch ... Elokainu Melec Ha-Olam.
TH. Blessed are You Our God, King of the World.
W. Barwch wytti ia el-eini maelog y-hwylma,
Seat of increase art thou, Supreme, our intellectual power, possessor of the space of revolution.1

H. Magini al elohim.
TH. My protection is from God.
W. Meigen-i hwyl elyv.
TW. My protection is from the intelligences.Ps. vii. 11.

H. MiHu Melec HaCavod ... Tsavaoth Hu Melec Hacavod Selah.
TH. Who is He King of Glory.... Hosts. He is the King of Glory, Selah.
W. Py yw-o sy maeloc y-cavad I-A-YW-YO savwyod yw-o maeloc y-cavad. Sela.
TW. Who is he that is possessor of attainments? I THAT AM HIM of hosts, he is the possessor of attainment, Behold. Ps. xxiv. 10.1

The author (Marolith) continues:

Now, if the aborigines Britons knew not the Jews, where could they have got hold of such whole Hebrew, purely Hebrew, sentences? I say, then, again, Is it not highly probable, if not demonstrated, that the Jews visited this island at a very early period, and tried to teach the natives the lessons which they have themselves learned?

They possessed already the simple but most sublime Mosaic records, written above 1000 years before the history of Herodotus; the Psalms and Proverbs written 1040 years before Horace; and probably Isaiah and Jeremiah, for they were written 700 years before Virgil. Many Jews were fathers in literature before any of the present nations, especially those of Europe, had their existence. Did time permit,1 I would have called your attention to some of the proper names which have prevailed among the aborigines Britons, as Solomon, of which name, according to Lloyd's Cambria, they anciently had three kings. We read of a Duke of Cornwall, Solomon by name, openly professing Christianity about the middle of the fourth century; Daniel, also Abraham, Asaph, and Adam, from which circumstance some antiquarians attempted to prove that the Welch are descendants of the children of Israel.2 I think that I am very moderate in endeavouring only to establish a probability of the Jews mixing with the Britons earlier than it is generally supposed.

It may not be out of place here to state that 'The isles afar off' (Jer. xxxi. 10) were supposed by the ancients to have been Britannia, Scotia, and Hibernia. The following statement was made by a celebrated and venerable divine of the Church of England, when pleading the cause of the 'London Society for promoting Christianity amongst the Jews'. I mean the Rev. Dr. Marsh:"The command is to declare the Lord's purpose concerning Israel 'in the isles afar off' (the expression always used by the Hebrews for these islands, known to them through the reports of the merchants of Tyre, Britannia, Scotia, and Hibernia). The proclamation is to be made here.  'This notion receives additional force from the command contained in the 7th verse of the same chapter. "For thus saith the Lord, sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.

"Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattereth Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd doth his flock."

The prophet seems to behold Britain in his vision. There can be no doubt that Britain is now the chief of the nations. Her monarch's territory is one upon which the sun never sets. The expression ''The end of the world,' mentioned in Isaiah lxii. 11, is also supposed to mean Britain, which was a common appellation for this island in remote ages. ...


Brit-Am Note:
The author continues. Says that the Romans were on good terms with the Jews, that there Jews in Britain in Roman times.
Reports the finding of a brick in a house from Roman times that had a bas-relief of Samson setting fire tot he tails of foxes.

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