SECT. IV. The Syriack remarkt. And Eustathius upon Dionysius.
WHILES we are treating upon the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Aenon, I cannot but observe that the word is divided both in the Syriack and Arabick Version. Syr. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 In the foun∣tain Jon. Arab. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 In the fountain Nun. The words of the Evangelist seem to discover the signification of the name.
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Because there was much water there. For we could not have render'd the word more significantly than a place of springs, or a watry place. So Nonnus,
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
Baptizing neer the waters of deep-waved Salem.
Why therefore did those Interpreters take the word in two, when it was plain, and Etymological enough of it self?
The Syriack Jon brings to mind a passage of Eustathius upon this verse of Dionysius.
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
Some say (saith he) that that whole Sea from Gaza as far as Egypt, is call'd the Jonian Se•• from Jo. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Indeed some call even Gaza its self Jone, where there is an heifer in the image of Jo, or the Moon.
That Gaza was ever call'd Jone, is not commonly known; but grant it was, and the Sea from that place even as far as Egypt, to have been call'd the Jonian Sea; yet should not I have deriv'd its name from Jo, but rather from the Jones, those brassy robust men,* 1.1 of whose coming into Egypt, and fixing their seats there by the Sea, Herodotus gives us a famous relation.
But must we seek for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ein Jon (or Javen, as some would have it) hereabout? To seek John about Gaza, would be to seek him out of the land of Israel; at least as the bounds of that land were at that time determin'd.