BOANERGES (Βαανηργές). — A nickname given by Jesus to the two apostles, the sons of Zebedee: James and John, according to Mk 3:17, where it is explained as “sons of thunder” (δ ἐστιν υἱοὶ βροντῆς).
B. is the Hebrew bēnē rēgēs; the root rēgē (like rēgē) means “to make a tumult” (Ps 2:1), and is common in Aramaic (Dan 6:7, 12, 16); at the time of Jesus it must also have had the sense of “to thunder,” as in Arabic rāgāsa and rāgāsa. E. Kautzsch understands it as “sons of wrath,” i.e., “hot-tempered” (the Hebrew-Aramaic rēgē means “wrath”: Is 23:11; 32:11; 37:28-29; Dan 3:13; etc.). The o in B. is “inexplicable” (Lagrange); the Peshitta omits it (bēnē regēs), and some minuscule manuscripts (60) have Bāvīrēyēs. St. Jerome (on Dan 1:7; PL 25, 497) writes: “not, as most think, bonareges, but more correctly benereem (var. bane-ram),” since in Hebrew “thunder” is said rā'am (from rā'am “to make a tumult”). D. Voelter mistakenly interprets it as “sons of the Hour.”
“Sons of thunder,” i.e., “thundering” (“to thunder” is said of God: 1 Sam 2:10) might be understood as referring to their fervent eloquence (Origen, M. Chladen; F. Zorell is uncertain); it is often seen as an allusion to the impetuous character of the two brothers, who (like Elijah: 2 Kgs 1:10-14) wished to call down “fire from heaven” upon the inhospitable Samaritans (Lk 9:54; cf. 9:49 and Mk 9:38). The Fathers see in it an allusion to the preaching of John, which Origen calls “intellectual thunder” (νόητῇ βροντῇ; Philoc. 15, 18: PG 14, 1313; cf. C. Cels. VI, 77: PG 11, 1416).
The Freer Codex (IV) along with various Old Latin manuscripts (c, bq) applies the nickname B. to all the apostles: Κοινῶς ἄνθος ἐκλίσεων Βουργιγὲς; Latin: communiter autem vocavit eos B. Originally communiter must have referred only to James and John; later their names were shifted, and the nickname B. seemed to apply to the Twelve. In a 4th-century sermon attributed to St. Basil it is said of all the apostles: υἱοὶ βροντῆς (PG 30, 813); and similarly by the Pseudo-Athanasius (PG 28, 1248). E. Preuschen, M. Fischer, and in part G. Bardy, support this isolated tradition, which F. Zorell considers not improbable.