The word is derived from the Greek word "Essenoi". A professor of classical Greek and a native Greek agreed that the English word that came closest in meaning to "Essenoi" would be "saints" or holy people.

    The Hebrew word "Hasidim" in the Old Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls was used as a collective designation of Israel as a religious community (the Community of God in the Scrolls), and is usually translated as "saints" or "holy ones".

    It is found many times in Deuteronomy, Daniel and the Psalms.

    When the Greeks invaded Israel in 326 BCE, they found a people who referred to themselves in a religious context as Hasidim, which the Greeks translated into their language as "Essenoi".

    In Maccabees, written by a Pharisee, there is a reference to "Assidians, mighty men of the law." This is a reference to the Hasidim scribes.

    The Greek word "Hagioi" found in the letters of Paul in the New Testament also translates into the English word for "saints", and whence the English word hagiography, the writing of the lives of saints.

    The Hasidim, the Assidians, the Essenes, the Hagioi and the saints are but different names for the religious group we currently refer to as Essenes.

    I will not repeat all the evidence that has led the majority of scholars to the belief that the Dead Sea Scrolls were produced by the Essenes. I have seen no convincing claims to the contrary.

    I will, therefore, assume the Scrolls were written by Essenes and provide further evidence that supports this assumption.