Note 88 — Chapter VIII · POST-CHRISTIAN GNOSTICS: THE OPHITES
Reading edition
Naassene is evidently derived from the Hebrew or Aramaean נחש “Serpent,” cf. Hipp. op. cit. Bk V. c. 6, p. 139, Cruice, and exactly corresponds to the Greek ὀφίτης and the Latin serpentinus (Low Latin serpentarius). “Worshipper of the Serpent” seems to be the patristic gloss on the meaning of the word.