The finding of a new original framework to be applied in etymological research represents a real Copernican revolution <ref>GALIBERTI, Review; cf. SEMERANO, ''Le Origini'', I, p.vii, for a reference to Galilei. </ref>not only in the field of Linguistics: it implies also an alternative historical model for the development of the Near East ancient civilizations and for their mutual relationships, in other words a new idea regarding the progress of mankind and its main starting points. As the entirely unexpected discovery of Ebla by Italian archaeologists had already shown at the end of the sixties and even more in the next decades, by stressing the absolute importance of this part of the Ancient World, one of the most significant ''cultural engines'' in the course of human history lay geographically in the Syro-Mesopotamian area: the art of writing, namely the most commonly accepted reference-mark for the beginning of the historical age, flourished in that region when men were still wandering partially in shadows along the Nile and Indo river valleys <ref>P. MATTHIAE, ''Ebla. Un Impero Ritrovato'', Bari 1970, ''passim''. But cf. also the periodical ''Studi Eblaiti'' since 1970 onwards, and the works of one of the most skillful members of the Italian archaeological staff, the assyriologist G. PETTINATO: see in particular his “L’Atlante Geografico del Vicino Oriente Antico attestato ad Ebla e ad Abù Salàbih”, ''Orientalia ''47 1978), pp.52-4, for the mention of Harràn amongst the sites recorded in Ebla’s Archive documents (the text in question is the no. TM.75.G.1591); cf. F.M. FALES, “Harràn. Fonti e Studi sull’Età Preamorrea”, in ''Studi su Harràn. Quaderni del Seminario di Iranistica,Uralo-Altaistica e Caucasologia dell’Università di Venezia'', VI, Venezia 1979, p.13 f. As already A. METZ, ''Die Stadt Harràn bis zum Einfall der Araber'', Strasburg 1892, p.24, knew, the name of the city derives from Accadian ''kharrànu(m)'', “way, road, jouney, caravan etc.”: I.G. GELB – B. LANDESBERGER – A.L. OPPENHEIM, ''The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago'', VI, pp.106b- 113b; cf. J.N. POSTGATE, art. “Harràn”, ''Reallexikon der Assyriologie'', IV, pp.122b-125a; A. GOETZE, “An Old Babylonian Itinerary”, ''Journal of Cuneiform Studies ''7 (1953), pp.51-72. For an imaginary etymology from Hebrew ''hor ''= “hole, cave etc.”, see PHILO, ''Migr''., 188: ''Kharràn gàr ermeneùetai trògle''. </ref>.

In the next pages we will perform an operation which not even our courageous and fearless professor Semerano, notwithstanding his sincere passion for the truth, managed, since such a thing was outside his own range of activities. If, as Semerano has proved with certainty, the incredible enduring power of Accadian forms has to be recognized in the European classical languages as well as into modern ones, there is no reason for not supposing that a similar phenomenon had happened in the Near Eastern linguistic sphere. In reality, the influence of Accadian on the languages of the Semitic branch is among the facts more commonly accepted by scholars, as orientalists have recognized from a long time similar inter-linguistic relations, both from a diachronic and synchronic point of view: but much work must still be done in this sense and, as it is evident that the European cultural context requires it, many past errors must be corrected in this field of research too. What failed to be understood up to now, in fact, is the full importance of the central role of the Accadian language, so that it appears to be the primary pattern which one should make reference to when, as general rule, etymological problems are at stake. We shall try to show, therefore, how strong the conservative power of the Accadian linguistic bulk had been even in reference to the problem which we are concerned with, the Sabians: obviously, it is a matter of Etymology, but we believe that our etymological solution is worthy of interest, by comparing it to the other ones which were proposed till now, for the simple reason that it is not an abstract hypothesis, good for some scholarly minds, as those were; on the contrary, it stands on solid theoretical grounds, because it agrees not only with phonetic general rules, but also with the historical developments of religions since Antiquity up to the Middle Ages throughout the Near Eastern area. Last but not least, our theory also fulfils the duties involved by the already quoted ''Principle of Economy'': for the first time, it makes a clean sweep of the artificial difference ''true Sabians'' - ''false Sabians'' in a satisfactory way, namely without resorting – as J. Pedersen in the twenties (and J. Hjarpe who followed his opinion more recently) did – to the concept of Gnosis <ref>J. PEDERSEN, “The Sabians”, pp.383-391; J. HJARPE, ''Analyse Critique des Traditions Arabes sur lesSabéens Harràniens'', Diss. Uppsala 1972, p.138 ff.; cf. SEGAL, “The Sabian Misteries”, p.214 f. and Id., ''Edessa'', p.60 n.1. See the critical remarks raised by TARDIEU, “Sàbiens”, p.8 n.28, p.9 and p.11. </ref>. It is true, in fact, that Pedersen’s solution gets over Chwolson’s incongruities by finding a single name for the subject implied by Muhammad’s words and by the religious-historical framework to come, with the well known difficulties of according several self-styled or alleged ''Sabian'' communities to the ''Koran''’s enigmatic group; however the idea of rendering in both cases the Sabians equal to Gnostics does not explain anything, because concepts like Gnosis and Gnosticism are in everybody’s opinion so hazy and loose that they can never help to solve a problem of identity, mostly when the problem in question is represented by such a complex phenomenon as [[Sabianism]].

==The Origins of the Name==

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