[Lexicog] Re: When Semantics Doesn't Matter

[David Frank]

Hayim --

I won't argue with you about whether the earliest forms of the Gospels might have been written in Aramaic rather than Greek. I will point out, though, that at the time of Christ the Hebrew scriptures were being circulated in Greek translation, though I'm sure you are well aware of that. In fact, there is evidence that many of quotes of the Hebrew Bible in the Greek New Testament were actually quotes from the Greek Septuagint translation rather than from the original Hebrew. You see this especially in the (anonymous) Epistle to the Hebrews, but also in the Gospels, such as where Jesus quoted the Septuagint version of Deut. 6:5 when asked what the greatest commandment was. Well, actually, I have to admit that the spoken answer was probably in Aramaic, but as it is recorded in the oldest manuscripts the answer is in Greek and apparently based on the Greek Septuagint translation of Deut. 6:5. We have no reason to think that Jesus actually ever uttered a word of Greek.

I don't doubt that the language spoken by the Jews in Palestine at the time of Christ was primarily Aramaic. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews was probably from Alexandria, where Greek was spoken more.

You are a very learned man in terms of languages, literatures, history and traditions, Hayim, so I don't expect I am telling you anything you didn't already know.

-- David Frank

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Hayim Sheynin 
  To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Monday, July 02, 2007 4:38 PM
  Subject: Re: [Lexicog] Re: When Semantics Doesn't Matter


  Dear David and Fritz,

  If anything, I intended that the original of some parts (like four synoptic  Gospels and Acts) of the NT could be or might be written in Palestinian Aramaic, perhaps Galilean dialect. I know that most of the theologians today are convinced that so called Q-text (a prototypal source of the NT) was written in Greek. But nobody saw this Q-text, and it seems to me logical  that it could be written in the original language of Jesus Christ and his disciples. Until the earliest text found, my suggestion must remain as a suggestion. If the original text had be written in Greek, I cannot understand an animosity of earlier Rabbis who saw the Christian teaching as very harmful for Rabbinic Judaism. The Jews of Rabbinic period (i.e. Hellenistic and Roman periods) did not have easy access to Greek writings. If they knew Greek, this was a street language. It is true for Palestine, but it is different for Alexandria and North African Jewish settlements. 

  Necessities of life pushed Greek words into Hebrew and Aramaic as loanwords, however it is not a proof of Palestinian Jews' proficiency in Greek.

  Hayim Sheynin
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