John 19:19 (YHWH?)

[yaaqub]

The reason the ultra-nationalist authors of the Mishna would rather the masses speak Greek over Aramaic, is the same reason why ultra-nationalist Assyrians today would rather their people in Iraq speak Kurdish rather than Arabic.

It has nothing to do with who is the oppressor at any given moment.

You see, Arabic is so close to Aramaic, that if the people are encouraged to speak Arabic...it will be very easy to discard Aramaic altogether and it would be lost.

Not so with Kurdish, an Indo-European tongue. If our people in Iraq are encouraged to speak Kurdish rather than Arabic, then the likelihood of Aramaic being forgotten is a lot less.

Same thing during the time of the Mishna. The ultra-nationalists feared that because Aramaic and Hebrew were so close, that Hebrew would be forgotten. They would rather the people speak Greek, so that Hebrew would not get lost into Aramaic.

Nevertheless, the very fact of it being mentioned as a concern should tell you what the vernacular of the day was.

Very good points, Paul. Very good.

And if our people ever began speaking Kurdish in place of Aramaic, or taking up the way of the Kurds, that would be the day hell freezes over. <!-- s:nervous: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/nervous.gif" alt=":nervous:" title="Nervous" /><!-- s:nervous: -->