Dalmanutha
1:
DALMANUTHA (PLACE) [Gk Dalmanoutha (Δαλμανουθα)]. This name occurs once in Mark 8:10 in the majority reading (codices Alexandrinus, Sinaiticus, and Vaticanus). It was apparently located on the NW shore of the Sea of Galilee (cf. Mark 7:31), since the majority reading in the parallel text in Matt 15:39 is “Magdala.” The minority reading in Matthew, “Magadan,” is actually better attested (original reading of codices Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Bezae, the Latin, and the Syriac), but a place name otherwise unknown.
It is easy to see that the copyists of Mark did not understand the name, for they consulted Matt 15:39 or otherwise simply “corrected” what lay in front of them. Also, they were not sure whether the place was a mountain, a district, or a territory, as all three terms appear. Aside from “Dalmanutha,” they variously recorded the place name in Mark 8:10 as Dalmanountha (Codex Vaticanus), Dalmounai (Codex Washingtonus), Mageda (minuscules 28 & 565), Magedan (Syriac Sinaiticus and the OL), Melegada (the first hand of Codex Bezae), Magdala (families f1 and f13; Codex Tiflis), or with other variants (Metzger 1971: 97).
The place name Dalmanutha is unknown outside the NT. It seems to have a genuine Aramaic locative ending in -tha or -tah (as in Anabtah in Samaria, Canatha in Tyre, or Gabatha in lower Galilee). However, the root *dlm is otherwise unattested in biblical Aramaic, though it appears in adverbs in targumic Aramaic. Probably the most ingenious linguistic explanation for the name is that of Nestle (1906: 406), who derived the name from the Aramaic particle dy ‘which’ + l ‘belonging to’ + mnatah or manah ‘portion’ or ‘lot’ in the Syriac Bible, cf. Josh 14:1, 15:1. This implies that Mark had an Aramaic text before him with a phrase something like “which belongs to the territory of . . . ,” but Mark understood it as a place name. Mark characteristically preserves bits of Aramaic but elsewhere always in the speeches of Jesus.
The word dylm˒ meaning “wall” occurs in the Jerusalem Talmud, which appeared about 400 c.e. (j. Kil. 32d). Thus it is at least possible that Mark knew a genuine place name or an Aramaic phrase.
In 1970, when the shores of the Sea of Galilee were exceptionally low, it became possible to investigate several ancient anchorages below the modern surface of the lake. These were walled enclosures built of stone blocks in the water but near the shore. There is one at Capernaum and another at Magdala, among others. A possible third is to be found N of and near Magdala and W of Capernaum. This may be ancient Dalmanutha (Nun 1971). If so, Dalmanutha was a small anchorage, likely in the district of Magdala. On the other hand, it is also possible that the Aramaic word meant “enclosure, anchorage” and came to be understood as a proper name. Thus the oral tradition may have had either “. . . the anchorage of the district of Magdala” or “Dalmanutha of the district of Magdala.” There is no scholarly consensus.
Bibliography
Metzger, B. M. 1971. A Textual Commentary of the Greek NT. New York.
Nestle, E. 1906. Dalmanutha. Pp. 406–7 in vol. 1 of Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels. Edinburgh.
Nun, M. 1971. Ancient Anchorages and Harbors in the Sea of Galilee. Nature and Land 5: 212–19 (in Hebrew).
James F. Strange
Freedman, D. N. (1996, c1992). The Anchor Bible Dictionary (2:4). New York: Doubleday.
2:
Dalmanutha — a place on the west of the Sea of Galilee, mentioned only in Mark 8:10. In the parallel passage it is said that Christ came “into the borders of Magdala” (Matt. 15:39). It is plain, then, that Dalmanutha was near Magdala, which was probably the Greek name of one of the many Migdols (i.e., watch-towers) on the western side of the lake of Gennesaret. It has been identified in the ruins of a village about a mile from Magdala, in the little open valley of ‘Ain-el-Barideh, “the cold fountain,” called el-Mejdel, possibly the “Migdal-el” of Josh. 19:38.
Easton, M. (1996, c1897). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
3:
DALMANUTHA Area on the west side of the Sea of Galilee near the southern end of the plain of Gennesaret. Its exact location is uncertain. Jesus and his disciples stayed there briefly after the incident of the feeding of the 4,000 (Mk 8:10). The Pharisees came to him seeking a sign from heaven in order to test him. After his answer that no sign would be given to this generation (v 12), he departed from there.
The word “Dalmanutha” is present in the best manuscripts, although other sources record Magadan or Magdala. The parallel passage in Matthew 15:39 cites Magadan. Because of this, the exact name and location have been difficult to pinpoint. Probably the various names are meant to designate the same site or at least two places in the same area.
See also Magadan; Magdala.
Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (345). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
4:
DALMANU´THA (dal-ma-nūʹtha). A place on the W coast of the Sea of Galilee, into parts of which Christ was said to have gone (“Magadan,” Matt. 15:39). Dalmanutha itself is mentioned only in Mark 8:10. The place is identified with a village called Ain-el-Barideh—the “cold fountain.” The village proper is called el-Mejdel, possibly the “Migdal-el” of Josh. 19:38.
Unger, M. F., Harrison, R. K., Vos, H. F., Barber, C. J., & Unger, M. F. (1988). The new Unger's Bible dictionary. Revision of: Unger's Bible dictionary. 3rd ed. c1966. (Rev. and updated ed.). Chicago: Moody Press.
5:
DALMANUTHA. In Mk. 8:10 a district on the coast of the Lake of Galilee, to which Jesus and his disciples crossed after the feeding of the four thousand. It has never been satisfactorily identified. (Magadan in the parallel passage, Mt. 15:39, is equally unknown.) Various emendations have been proposed (including F. C. Burkitt’s suggestion that it represents a corruption of Tiberias combined with its earlier name Amathus), but it is best to keep the attested reading and await further light. f.f.b.
Wood, D. R. W., Wood, D. R. W., & Marshall, I. H. (1996, c1982, c1962). New Bible Dictionary. Includes index. (electronic ed. of 3rd ed.) (251). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.
6:
Dalmanutha (dal-muh-no̅o̅ʹthuh; etymology uncertain), unidentified site to which Jesus sailed across the Sea of Galilee after feeding the four thousand (Mark 8:10; various manuscripts read ‘Magadan,’ ‘Magedan,’ ‘Magdala,’ and the parallel in Matt. 15:39 has ‘Magadan’). It probably refers to the vicinity of Magdala. See also Magdala.
Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary. Includes index. (1st ed.) (203). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
7:
Dalmanutha (Gk. Dalmanouthá)
A place on the shore of the Sea of Galilee to which Jesus withdrew following the feeding of the four thousand (Mark 8:10). Variants of the name include Dalmounai (Codex Washingtonensis), Mageda (minuscules 28, 565), Magedan (Syriac Sinaiticus), and Melegada (Codex Bezae). In the parallel passage (Matt. 15:39) Magdala/Magadan appears as the name of the district.
The location and identification of Dalmanutha is unknown, although it has been identified as a small anchorage W of Capernaum.
Zeljko Gregor
Freedman, D. N., Myers, A. C., & Beck, A. B. (2000). Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (308). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans.
