Aramaic to master before seeing "Passion".

[hardheadjarhead]

http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,4120,1159068,00.html



Aramaic phrases to master before going to see "The Passion of the Christ".

Pretty funny. Somewhat irreverant, but still funny.



Regards,



Steve

 

[arnisador]

I remember reading a story on an Aramaic professor (from UCLA?) who was asked to speak in Aramaic for an episode of the X-Files (or maybe the movie?). As a gag, they asked him to say "I am the walrus" in Aramaic for the small amount of speaking needed in the show. He couldn't find a word for walrus and so said "I am the sea-cow" instead.

Not many people study it anymore--yet, it's important for Biblical studies, be they for theological or historical purposes.

 

[loki09789]

As far as I know, the other important language is Coinoy (sorry for the spelling) Greek, which is different from Hellenistic Greek. I think it has something to do with translations and how the Greek sources, for Christian bibical references, were the precursors to the Dead sea scrolls and other documents which were in the original Aramaic. Greek would have been the 'language of the masses' as well for when Christianity was opening up to the Gentiles.

Does anyone else know about this?

Paul M

 

[heretic888]

Does anyone else know about this?

Well, as far as I can tell, the Greek you are referring to was the language the New Testament was originally written in (the earliest versions we've gotten our mitts on anyway). And it is clearly the native language of all the New Testamental authors --- whoever wrote those books were clearly not Hebrew/Aramic speakers and had never been to Palestine/Israel.

So, who knows??

 

[arnisador]

Yes, koine ("common") Greek was widely spoken. It is what the New Testament was written in, though some Aramaic words are sprinkled in. Aramaic is related to Hebrew and to Syriac (still spoken in a small part of Ethiopia, I think). The koine Greek does differ from the older Greek that one thinks of as "classical" Greek. Theologians study koine Greek and you can find "Teach Yourself Biblical Greek" books in most bookstores.

 

[loki09789]

Thanks for the info,

Ah, the spirit of the Theological training remains for me more than the scholarly references. These details are jarring the memory.

 

[someguy]

That was pretty funny.