Debunking another Trimmism

[Paul Younan]

Shlama Akhi Yuri,

That's an interesting story - but not at all applicable here. <!-- s:dontgetit: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/dontgetit.gif" alt=":dontgetit:" title="Dont Get It" /><!-- s:dontgetit: -->

Aramaic grammar was well established for more than 1,000 years before Old Scratch came along the scene. We have examples of well-written Aramaic from imperial Assyrian days (850 BC)....and we have examples of well-written Aramaic after Old Scratch.

None of them read as bad as Old Scratch does.

Akhi - I'm not talking about grammar errors that are explainable by different dialects or something like that. I'm talking about grammar errors the like of which are made by someone who doesn't know the language that well.

I've seen these very same mistakes made by children in Sunday School - the same types of errors found in Old Scratch.

Do you know how GPs say that the Greek grammar of the NT is bad? Well, how do you suppose they know that the Greek grammar is bad? Well, they compare it to samples of Koine Greek from other sources at the same time, and they know that the Greek NT grammar is a monstrosity.

In the same way, an Aramaic speaker who reads Old Scratch thinks that a child wrote it.

In contrast, the text of the Peshitta is the standard text in any university-level class for Syriac-Aramaic. In fact, why don't you pick up Thackston's grammar from amazon.com and see what text he uses to explain proper Aramaic grammar?

I'll give you a hint: Out of several sources he uses, not one reading is from Old Scratch. The Peshitta readings are the majority of his examples to teach people proper Grammar.