11-20-2013, 04:46 PM
Akhi Paul,
I think I better understand what you're trying to ask, so bear with me. :-)
You're, in essence, asking for examples of translational phenomena in other religious texts (which, strictly speaking isn't a "koine" either). There are some good examples in a number of works in Classical Sanskrit that have a large amount of prakrit ("coloquialism"). Another closely related case is in the Edicts of Ashoka, where we can see similar things in Classical Sanskrit, Greek, AND Aramaic, multi-lingual inscriptions. Even portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls can show similar phenomena, as in places the scribes may be writing in Hebrew, but they are writing in-Aramaic-in-Hebrew with borrowings from grammar, vocabulary, and idiom.
When it comes to defining a language, however, it's a chicken vs egg scenario. For example, the corpus of what we call "Biblical Hebrew" and "Classical Arabic" is defined primarily by the sum total of language in the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an respectively. However, within that corpus there is plenty of variation. Once they assumed the status of Liturgical languages, we see a lot more examples of colloquialisms in later dialects that tried to hang on to the syntax and style of the classical language, but were written by people who did not speak them. I'm sure there are others, but I'd have to look to find them.
With Koine Greek, on the other hand, there are a large number of underlying features from different languages and dialects, many times of which would show through depending upon the speaker or context, if you get what I mean. What makes it a koine is its breadth, spread, and adaptation as a common tongue over a large geographical area, and where there is unity in its form as Greek, the range of expression and idiom is quite wide.
So all of that in mind, yes there are other religious texts that have the texture you're asking about. It's not "unique" to the Greek New Testament.
Did I hit upon the thrust of what you were after more appropriately this time?
I think I better understand what you're trying to ask, so bear with me. :-)
Paul Younan Wrote:When you study Hebrew in a university setting, is not the standard Biblical Hebrew? Likewise, isn't Classical Arabic taught with the Quran being one of the primary texts? Aren't both of these collections considered to be the examples of the foundations of those classical tongues?
Is the Greek of the New Testament versions considered to be a primary source in any linguistics, other than in a western Christian theological setting?
Pointing to the argument that "this is one of the primary text of koine greek" doesn't really answer the essence of my inquiry.
The Hebrew of the OT and the Arabic of the Quran aren't "koine" in any sense of the term. So that is what I'm asking. Is any other scripture that you are aware of, written in something like a "koine"?
A cognate would be if, for example, a Hindu text was written in a dialect of Sanskrit that was heavily influence by Chinese syntax. Or, alternatively, if a Taoist text was written in a Chinese dialect that was heavily influenced by Sanskrit (Indo-European) syntax.
The above is the type of thing I'd look for as a cognate to the Semitic substratum of the Greek of the NT.
+Shamasha
You're, in essence, asking for examples of translational phenomena in other religious texts (which, strictly speaking isn't a "koine" either). There are some good examples in a number of works in Classical Sanskrit that have a large amount of prakrit ("coloquialism"). Another closely related case is in the Edicts of Ashoka, where we can see similar things in Classical Sanskrit, Greek, AND Aramaic, multi-lingual inscriptions. Even portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls can show similar phenomena, as in places the scribes may be writing in Hebrew, but they are writing in-Aramaic-in-Hebrew with borrowings from grammar, vocabulary, and idiom.
When it comes to defining a language, however, it's a chicken vs egg scenario. For example, the corpus of what we call "Biblical Hebrew" and "Classical Arabic" is defined primarily by the sum total of language in the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an respectively. However, within that corpus there is plenty of variation. Once they assumed the status of Liturgical languages, we see a lot more examples of colloquialisms in later dialects that tried to hang on to the syntax and style of the classical language, but were written by people who did not speak them. I'm sure there are others, but I'd have to look to find them.
With Koine Greek, on the other hand, there are a large number of underlying features from different languages and dialects, many times of which would show through depending upon the speaker or context, if you get what I mean. What makes it a koine is its breadth, spread, and adaptation as a common tongue over a large geographical area, and where there is unity in its form as Greek, the range of expression and idiom is quite wide.
So all of that in mind, yes there are other religious texts that have the texture you're asking about. It's not "unique" to the Greek New Testament.
Did I hit upon the thrust of what you were after more appropriately this time?