07-14-2012, 01:49 AM
Hi Peter.
The first phrase, "ith wah" is how it's pronounced in modern Aramaic, is translated into English as follows "there was". The second phrase is the same with the addition of "lwath" which is translated "with".
One thing that's fascinating about comparing two different languages is the fact that sometimes phrases don't exactly correlate to the same number of words between different languages.
Sometimes multiple Aramaic words are required to convey the same meaning that a single English word conveys. And vice-versa. This is especially true of languages that are as different as these two, from two different families of languages.
I'll give you an example. In English the simple "landlord" is a single word. But to say the same thing in Aramaic, it would be "Mara de Beth" - "lord of the house."
In general you'll find that Semitic tongues are "wordier" than English. It often takes more then one word to convey the same meaning that an English word does.
Whereas English (and languages related to it, like Greek and Latin) prefer conciseness, Aramaic and other Semitic tongues prefer fuller, and often repetitive, phrases.
One of the areas of our studies in Aramaic primacy focuses on this feature that is found even in the Greek copies of the new testament. It can be one clue about the original language of a document.
The first phrase, "ith wah" is how it's pronounced in modern Aramaic, is translated into English as follows "there was". The second phrase is the same with the addition of "lwath" which is translated "with".
One thing that's fascinating about comparing two different languages is the fact that sometimes phrases don't exactly correlate to the same number of words between different languages.
Sometimes multiple Aramaic words are required to convey the same meaning that a single English word conveys. And vice-versa. This is especially true of languages that are as different as these two, from two different families of languages.
I'll give you an example. In English the simple "landlord" is a single word. But to say the same thing in Aramaic, it would be "Mara de Beth" - "lord of the house."
In general you'll find that Semitic tongues are "wordier" than English. It often takes more then one word to convey the same meaning that an English word does.
Whereas English (and languages related to it, like Greek and Latin) prefer conciseness, Aramaic and other Semitic tongues prefer fuller, and often repetitive, phrases.
One of the areas of our studies in Aramaic primacy focuses on this feature that is found even in the Greek copies of the new testament. It can be one clue about the original language of a document.