08-29-2008, 03:02 PM
Shlama Akhni Otto,
I have an idea about what Luke might have doing but I need a weird process to explain it. If I may, let me use an example from my personal past. I'll let you all in on a secret: I didn't talk until I was about 4 years old. My wife says I have been making up for lost time ever since...
Seriously, I was, as they used to say, "developmentally challenged" in my formative years, but like so many other things, this was actually a blessing in disguise. By the time I got to Hebrew school at age 5, my "behind" language skills had kicked in and peaked. Normally this would have happened a few years earlier, or at least that's what I read some time ago.
My point is this: In a sense Hebrew and English both became primary languages to me. My mind absorbed them both at the same time, and I mixed words from both growing up before I knew better. So in my mind it was fine to say "keppie ache" rather than "headache", and ironically my Hebrew came out mixed with English as well which set my studies back! Now, add to this one more fact: I am growing up in Long Island New York where of course we have one of the strongest Jewish communities outside of Israel, so in that place my "mixing" was the most understandable to others and even the most expected place for such a thing to happen.
I think therefore the same thing happened with Luke. One of the most fascinating things about him is his level of skill in both Greek and Aramaic. Scripture tells us Luke worked as a physician in Troas, but very reliable eastern and western traditions say he was born and raised in what Eusebius called "Antiochus boomeus en", or "Antioch of greater renown".
That meant Antioch in Syria, as opposed to Pisdian Antioch in Turkey. Now what do we know about Syrian Antioch? It had a large Jewish population that was part of the founding delegation that established it in the first place, and Aramaic was widely spoken there (Syriac-Syria) as a result. But, it was also a center piece of GREEK learning too, and a provincial power hub of the Roman Empire. So whether we are talking Aramaic or Greek, it is no exaggeration to say that Syrian Antioch was one of the most literate and cosmopolitan places on earth, and this is where Luke grew up.
So I think that Luke would have simply mixed terms from both languages as I did, and it would have been totally normal to him. He probably would have reasoned that as long as the final product was of high quality (which it was in both languages although whether Luke translated his own works into Greek is a matter of interpretation for another time) that loan words were inevitable and that some regionalisms were to be expected.
Luke also tends to write what he hears and doesn't always explain it, like with KRISTIANAY in Acts. Luke wrote down what he heard others in--WHERE--oh yeah, ANTIOCH call the disciples and just left it at that. While that may not sound like a big thing in Greek, it has always raised eyebrows on the Aramaic side. Again, I think it's because that mixing was totally part of Luke's upbringing and it became a hallmark of his writing style later.
Just my two cents.
Shlama w'burkate
Andrew Gabriel Roth
I have an idea about what Luke might have doing but I need a weird process to explain it. If I may, let me use an example from my personal past. I'll let you all in on a secret: I didn't talk until I was about 4 years old. My wife says I have been making up for lost time ever since...
Seriously, I was, as they used to say, "developmentally challenged" in my formative years, but like so many other things, this was actually a blessing in disguise. By the time I got to Hebrew school at age 5, my "behind" language skills had kicked in and peaked. Normally this would have happened a few years earlier, or at least that's what I read some time ago.
My point is this: In a sense Hebrew and English both became primary languages to me. My mind absorbed them both at the same time, and I mixed words from both growing up before I knew better. So in my mind it was fine to say "keppie ache" rather than "headache", and ironically my Hebrew came out mixed with English as well which set my studies back! Now, add to this one more fact: I am growing up in Long Island New York where of course we have one of the strongest Jewish communities outside of Israel, so in that place my "mixing" was the most understandable to others and even the most expected place for such a thing to happen.
I think therefore the same thing happened with Luke. One of the most fascinating things about him is his level of skill in both Greek and Aramaic. Scripture tells us Luke worked as a physician in Troas, but very reliable eastern and western traditions say he was born and raised in what Eusebius called "Antiochus boomeus en", or "Antioch of greater renown".
That meant Antioch in Syria, as opposed to Pisdian Antioch in Turkey. Now what do we know about Syrian Antioch? It had a large Jewish population that was part of the founding delegation that established it in the first place, and Aramaic was widely spoken there (Syriac-Syria) as a result. But, it was also a center piece of GREEK learning too, and a provincial power hub of the Roman Empire. So whether we are talking Aramaic or Greek, it is no exaggeration to say that Syrian Antioch was one of the most literate and cosmopolitan places on earth, and this is where Luke grew up.
So I think that Luke would have simply mixed terms from both languages as I did, and it would have been totally normal to him. He probably would have reasoned that as long as the final product was of high quality (which it was in both languages although whether Luke translated his own works into Greek is a matter of interpretation for another time) that loan words were inevitable and that some regionalisms were to be expected.
Luke also tends to write what he hears and doesn't always explain it, like with KRISTIANAY in Acts. Luke wrote down what he heard others in--WHERE--oh yeah, ANTIOCH call the disciples and just left it at that. While that may not sound like a big thing in Greek, it has always raised eyebrows on the Aramaic side. Again, I think it's because that mixing was totally part of Luke's upbringing and it became a hallmark of his writing style later.
Just my two cents.
Shlama w'burkate
Andrew Gabriel Roth