3.7.2013 BOANERGE! TAME MY TONGUE WITH YOUR LOVE.

the word boanerges only occurs in mark 3.17
where Jesus' chosen 12 disciples are named..
'..and james, the son of zebedee,
and john the brother of james
(to them He gave the name
BOANERGES,
which means,
'SONS OF THUNDER'.

the word is transliterated
(to change the characters/letters of a word in one language
into corresponding characters/letters of another language.
ie. the greek letter X has the sound of ch
and so in words where this letter occurs in Greek,
when transliterated into english
this letter is represented by the letters ch
so that the sound, as much as possible, in the greek
is preserved in the english transliteration.)
from the aramaic into greek  by Jesus.
(He must have liked nicknames
that reflected obvious personal characteristics.)

following is lenski's comments on the verse.
..'the plural 'as names' refers to these two disciples.
the aramaic root of 'boanerges' has not as yet been cleared up;
linguists hold various opinions.
but peter and mark understood  the name
to mean 'sons of thunder',
and they knew both aramaic and greek.
it is not reported on what occasion Jesus bestowed this name.
thunder cannot refer to the eloquence of these two brothers
as has been supposed
and would hardly fit the idea of powerful faith,
the supposition of others.
it is best to make the name designate
FIERY ZEAL
which they manifested for their Lord,
as is exemplified in

mark 9.38 john said to Him 'teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name,
and we tried to hinder him because he was not following us.
but Jesus said ,
'do not hinder him...

luke 9.53-4 and they did not receive Him (village of the samaritans)
because He was journeying with His face toward jerusalem.
and when His disciples James and John
saw this,
they said,
'Lord, do You want US
to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?
and He turned and rebuked them..
'you do not know what kind of spirit you are of
for the Son of man did not come to destroy men's lives,
but to save them..

and elsewhere.
john is often pictured as being sweet and mild,
but his symbol is the eagle,
and his entire character is marked by power.