The variant Moran or Maran (Syriac: ܡܪܢ, Moran),[citation needed] meaning "Our Lord", is a particular title given to Jesus, either alone or in combination with other names and titles. Likewise, Marth or Morth (Syriac: ܡܪܬܢ, Mārtan, "Our Lady")[citation needed] is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus.
The variant Marya or Moryo (Syriac: ܡܪܝܐ, Māryā)[4] is the original form of Mara/Moro, but only used in reference to God in the circle of Syriac Christianity. This word is used in the PeshittaOld Testament to render the Tetragrammaton. Although Mara/Moro is clearly a derived form of the above Marya/Moryo, and ultimately has roots in common Semitic, there is a fanciful derivation found in early Syriac lexica, that the word is an initialism as follows:
In Mishnaic Hebrew through to date, this Aramaic word is pronounced [mar] (Hebrew: מָר), and it is used as a formal way of addressing or referring to a male person.[8] In the Talmud, Tabyomi is sometimes referred to as Mar,[9] and Samuel of Nehardea, as Mar Samuel. "Mar" was also the honorific of the Talmudic Exilarchs[10] and according to Sherira ben Hanina, formed part of names like "Amemar". In the Geonic period, "Mar" could be used for any notable and the Geonim were generally known by the double title "Mar-Rav". The derived terms marana (our master) and maranan (our masters), especially when combined with Rabbi for marana verabbana and maranan verabbanan, became popular in the Rishonic period and remain so today.
In the Modern Hebrew of contemporary Israel, "Mar" is used without distinction for any male person, by analogy with "Mr." in English. Similarly feminine "Marat", which acquired this use centuries earlier, originally parallel to masculine "Reb". In Orthodox circles, especially among Jews from the Middle East, the variant form Maran (מָרָן, cf. Rabban) is used for highly appreciated Rabbis, such as Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas party.[11]
In Mandaeism
In Mandaeism, names for Hayyi Rabbi ("the Great Life") in Mandaic (an Eastern Aramaic variety) include the cognate word Mara as in Mara ḏ-Rabutaࡌࡀࡓࡀ ࡖࡓࡀࡁࡅࡕࡀ ('Lord of Greatness' or 'The Great Lord'; see also the Manichaean term Father of Greatness).[12]
^Brock S. P., An Introduction to Syriac Studies, Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2006, p. 1 ISBN978-1-59333-349-2: "Mor (or Mar) is an honorific title used both for bishops and for saints".
^Dodd, Erica, The Frescoes of Mar Musa al-Habashi, Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 2001, p. 23. — 202 p. — ISBN978-0-88844-139-3: "It was pointed out that the title 'Mar' or Saint is commonly used for prophets as well as saints (See above, p. 15. In the second Syriac inscription, Appendix I, the title is used for Bishop Diskoros)"
