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Language Studies
Aramaic Thoughts Archives
November 9, 2012
The arguments from what might have happened with Semitic gospel materials are indecisive, because one plausible explanation can account for the current lack of evidence. However, consider the possibility that New Testament materials were composed in either Hebrew or Aramaic. Given the preservation of New Testament materials…
November 2, 2012
It is really necessary to consider two things before concluding that one or more of the gospels (or some or all of the New Testament) was composed originally in Hebrew (or in Aramaic). First it is necessary to ask what kind of evidence exists that might point in that direction. Second, it is necessary to ask what evidence…
October 26, 2012
As anyone knows who has read more than one English version of the Bible, there is often more than one way to translate a particular passage from one language into another. This is obviously the case where the translations have differing philosophies of translation, such as the formal equivalence philosophy of the ASV (American…
October 19, 2012
The eighth type of Semitism that Carmignac identifies in the gospels he calls "Semitisms of Transmission." The idea here is as follows: the gospels, except for Luke, were written originally in Hebrew. They were later translated into Greek, and those are the gospel texts we currently have. However, the Greek versions were…
October 12, 2012
The seventh type of Semitism that Carmignac finds in the gospels he labels “Semitisms of Composition.” The best way of determining what Carmignac means is by looking at his examples. The first he draws from the opening verses of Mark. The citation given from Isaiah is actually a collation of material from Ex 23:20;…
October 5, 2012
Carmignac’s sixth category of Semitisms in the New Testament he calls "Semitisms of style." Here he briefly surveys a number of characteristics of Semitic prose and poetry that are found in the gospels. The first is the telling of a story by means of short clauses connected with "and" (p. 25). This is certainly characteristic…
September 28, 2012
Carmignac’s fourth category of Semitism’s in the New Testament he calls "Semitisms of Vocabulary." What he means by this identification is as follows: Each language uses words in a way unique to itself, and in constructions unique to itself. When a speaker of one language writes in another, he tends to use the words…
September 21, 2012
Carmignac found in the Greek of the New Testament frequent Semitisms of various types that, to his mind, could only be explained by the idea that the gospels especially had been translated from Hebrew (or Aramaic) originals. He divided these Semitisms into various categories which he then evaluated for their significance…
September 14, 2012
Jean Carmignac, The Birth of the Synoptics (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1987).
Carmignac’s work is short, with fewer than 90 pages of text devoted to his argumentation. In addition, it is aimed at a popular, rather than an academic, audience. However, there are a number of elements to the work that are worthy…
September 7, 2012
A number of works have appeared over the years, some scholarly some not so scholarly, that suggest that all, or at least parts of the New Testament originated as Semitic documents, either in Aramaic or in Hebrew. The most thorough, and most scholarly of them is Matthew Black’s An Aramaic Approach to the Gospels and…
August 31, 2012
There are some scholars who hold the view that all or at least a large part of the New Testament was written originally in Aramaic. In the next couple of weeks I will deal with these authors, briefly presenting their arguments and responding to them. For now, I want to say that I do not find their arguments compelling.…
August 24, 2012
Verse 7 in the Peshitta reads: The satisfied soul tramples on the honeycomb, but to the famishing, even bitter things are sweet. The Hebrew original reads: The satisfied soul tramples the honeycomb, but for the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet. The Septuagint reads: A satisfied soul scorns honeycombs, but to a hungry…
August 17, 2012
Verse five is entirely unremarkable. The Hebrew says: Better is uncovered reproof than hidden love. The Septuagint says: Better are uncovered reproofs than hidden love. The Peshitta says: Better is the open rebuke than the hidden love. There is no dispute either about the reading of the text or about what it means. The…
August 10, 2012
Verse 4 is as follows in Hebrew: Wrath is cruel and anger is overwhelming, and who can stand before jealousy? In the Septuagint it reads: Wrath is merciless and anger is sharp, but jealousy can bear nothing. In the Peshitta the verse reads: Wrath is impudent and anger is violent, and who is the one who can stand before…
August 3, 2012
Picking up where we left off last week, Proverbs 27:2 also illustrates another aspect of Hebrew parallelism. This parallelism can be either complete or incomplete. In complete parallelism, each element in the first line has a matching element in the second line. Proverbs 10:1 says (being painfully literal), "A son of wisdom…
