—a good one—that is, a sound and fitting praise—.
Their familiar declension of the word in ordinary speech runs: fāraqlīṭ for the singular, fāraqlīṭān for the dual, and for any number beyond that they use the term ḥamd (praise). From the same pattern we Arabs say, by way of illustration, yad (a hand) and minna (a favor).

Those who contend that it means “the savior” argue that the word is Syriac and, in that language, denotes “the savior.” They further claim that it is derived from our verb rāwafa (to show compassion); in Syriac one says fārūq, which was then rendered fāraq.

They add that the element līṭ is nothing more than an extra particle, functioning like the Arabic habit of appending -huwa for emphasis in phrases such as: rajulun huwa (“he is a man”), ḥajarun huwa (“he is a stone”), badrun huwa (“he is a full moon”), dhakarun huwa (“he is a male”). In the same way, Syriac adds līṭ.

Others have said that it means “the bestower of honor,” maintaining that in Greek the word carries precisely that sense.

Both interpretations are met with the objection that Christ’s own language was neither Syriac nor Greek, but Hebrew. The reply offered is that he spoke in Hebrew yet was rendered into other tongues, just as one of the Gospels was dictated in Greek and another in Latin.