The phrase son of man is a primarily Semitic idiom that
originated in Ancient Mesopotamia , used to denote humanity or
self. The phrase is also used in Judaism , child of (a) man In
Akkadian, son of man is: In Hebrew, son of man is either: - בן
אדם [ben 'adam] (Adam) - בן אנש [ben 'enosh] (Enos) In Aramaic,
son of man due to spelling variants and morphological shifts is
either: - ברנש [barnash] - ברנשא [barnasha'] - בר נש [bar nash]
- בר נשא [bar nasha'] - יליד נשא [yelid nasha'] (lit. "Born of a
Human") - בר אנש [bar 'anash] - בר אנוש [bar 'anowsh] - בר אנשא
[bar 'ansha'] - ברה דאנשא [breh dansha'] - (and a few others)
Ancient Semitic literature The most common use is similar to
that of the English word "human." For example: 1QapGen. XXI.13:
MT שיא (Gen. 13.16) ואשגה זרעך כעפר ארשא די לא ישכח בר אנוש
לממדיה And I will multiply your seed like the dirt of the earth
which no son of man (בר אנוש : [bar 'anowsh]) can count.
(Aramaic) In the Hebrew of Genesis 13:16, the word translated as
בר אנוש (son of man) was