Marqe and the Samaritan liturgy

copyright 2008 Stephan Huller

By Rory Boid (personal correspondence)

At the moment I think the Durrân is by Marqe but re-written to express the rejection of a part of what was written by the original Marqe so that the inoffensive parts could be kept. Anyway, the new version of these lines will be clearer and more convincing. I will send the revised version after I have looked through the material again and thought it through. This means more work. Lots more work. Sigh….

I suppose you have thought about the significance of the name ‘Amram Dâre, Amram the ancient. Amram is Moses’s father. In this case, the reference might be to the figure to whom Marqe dedicated the small collection.

If this line of thought is right, the early collections are either all by Marqe or all associated with him. The only remaining author is called Ninna the son of Marqe. All four, Marqe, Durrân, ‘Amram (father of Marqe), Ninna (son of Marqe), can be regarded as parts of one work in origin. Why four?