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Jewish Palestinian Aramaic VS Syriac
#1
Shlama,

What are some good resources to explore the varience between Jewish Palestinian Aramaic and the Syriac of the Peshitta? I was discussing the Peshitta briefly with a Biblical language expert this weekend who was mentioning the difference between the two and how the Syriac of the Peshitta is different from that which was spoken in the 1st century by Jesus and His apostles. Any comments or insights to this issue would be apreciated.

On a related note, from a Greek primacy perspective, we discussed the possibility of how the disciples likely jotted down notes in Aramaic from which they then used as a basis when compiling the Gospels. Although, if we are to look at various Aramaic primacy proofs in terms of mistranslation (for example, leper VS potter) then it seems unlikely that one of the disciples would mistranslate their own notes. Thoughts?

Luc
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#2
Hi Luc

I've often encountered the same argument that the language of the Peshitta differs significantly in dialect from what (presumably) was spoken during the first century in "Palestine". But I've not ever been given any texts to examine that imaginary dialect. And, the little Aramaic that the Greek text preserves, is identical to the language of the Peshitta.

I've publically challenged proponents of that theory, in particular I've asked that they demonstrate from the words of Christ or Paul, as preserved in the Greek text itself, the "palestinian" dialect differences. Their usual reply is that there just so happens to be no difference in those passages.

So I guess it's not really that different, after all. At least not in a demonstrable way by the adherents of that hypothesis.

I don't know about the personal notes in Aramaic only to jot them down later in a more complete Greek document. Who does this today? If I'm composing something in English ultimately, like an essay paper or doctoral thesis..I'm certainly taking notes in English.

Or, if I've taken English notes, I'm certainly not going to use them to compose an Aramaic document.

The languages are so radically different in thought (and, writing system) that I would just add time in orders of magnitude by attempting to mix them like that. It's just not worth it.

And I agree, that does little to explain the variants and errors we see in the different Greek texts.

+Shamasha Paul
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#3
Hi Paul,

Thanks for the reply! As far as the note taking goes, he explained it in such a way where during the ministry of Christ they would have jotted notes down in Aramaic, not with the expectation of writing a full Gospel in Greek at a later time, but just for the sake of making note some of the good teachings. If it was decided later on to write the Gospels in Greek, these would have been referenced at that point. This is in essence the theory as far as I understand it. But I certainly understand your point as well.

On a somewhat related note, what is the earliest piece/fragment of Christian Aramaic we have? Not necessarily canonized Scripture, but any kind of Christian document (liturgical or otherwise).

Thanks!
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#4
Luc Lefebvre Wrote:Hi Paul,

Thanks for the reply! As far as the note taking goes, he explained it in such a way where during the ministry of Christ they would have jotted notes down in Aramaic, not with the expectation of writing a full Gospel in Greek at a later time, but just for the sake of making note some of the good teachings. If it was decided later on to write the Gospels in Greek, these would have been referenced at that point. This is in essence the theory as far as I understand it. But I certainly understand your point as well.

On a somewhat related note, what is the earliest piece/fragment of Christian Aramaic we have? Not necessarily canonized Scripture, but any kind of Christian document (liturgical or otherwise).

Thanks!

Shlama Luc

The earliest Christian Aramaic texts, aside from the scriptures were presumably the Diatesseron and later the works of Ephraim and Narsai (d. 4th century).

A great paper describing liturgical sources can be found here:

<!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.jaas.org/edocs/v18n1/Sebastian%20Brock-ostracon-Final.pdf">www.jaas.org/edocs/v18n1/Sebastian%20Br ... -Final.pdf</a><!-- w -->

+Shamasha
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#5
Luc Lefebvre Wrote:Hi Paul,

Thanks for the reply! As far as the note taking goes, he explained it in such a way where during the ministry of Christ they would have jotted notes down in Aramaic, not with the expectation of writing a full Gospel in Greek at a later time, but just for the sake of making note some of the good teachings. If it was decided later on to write the Gospels in Greek, these would have been referenced at that point. This is in essence the theory as far as I understand it. But I certainly understand your point as well.

On a somewhat related note, what is the earliest piece/fragment of Christian Aramaic we have? Not necessarily canonized Scripture, but any kind of Christian document (liturgical or otherwise).

Thanks!

Shlama Luc

The earliest Christian Aramaic texts, aside from the scriptures were presumably the Diatesseron and later the works of Ephraim and Narsai (d. 4th century).

A great paper describing liturgical sources can be found here:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.jaas.org/edocs/v18n1/Sebastian%20Brock-ostracon-Final.pdf">http://www.jaas.org/edocs/v18n1/Sebasti ... -Final.pdf</a><!-- m -->

+Shamasha
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