10-19-2003, 03:13 AM
Paul Younan:
Shlama l'kulhon mhaymneh b'Mshikha,
As Eusebius tells us, when the time came to translate Aramaic Matthew into Greek, it was quite a struggle. From his comment, one would assume that many 'variations' occured since people (plural) translated it differently in different locations and times.
The examples of this historic struggle are numerous, as Akhi Dean Dana has already demonstrated a few.
Here is another example, which happens to have a parallel in Luke.
The verse in question is Mattai 8:10, where the Messiah's words are recorded as follows in the Aramaic of the Peshitta (as I have translated it):
[font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]Jwkl 0n0 rm0 Nym0[/font] (Truly (Amen) say I to you...)
[font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]Ly0rsy0b f P0d [/font](...that not even in Israel)
[font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]Fwnmyh 0dh Ky0 txk40 [/font](...have I found faith like this)
The parallel passage in Luke is 7:9.
The key to this example, and something that plagues any translator who is working on an Aramaic document, is the phrase [font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]f P0d [/font]which can't be translated exactly into any other language.
Literally, it means "that also not", but figuratively and idiomatically it means "not even." This association between the literal and the figurative (idiomatic) occurs only in Aramaic.
The parallel passage occurs in Luke at 7:9, where he also employs this terminology.
Some Greek versions, finding the phrase utterly confounding (they had no idea of the idiomatic meaning), altogether left out the translation of the phrase, and hence omit the "not even" in Matthew - yet retain it in Luke. These ancient manuscripts are designated B, W, f1, 892 cop and even the Curetonian Syriac (one of the "Old Syriac" versions.)
The other Greek manuscripts which preserved this reading in Matthew are desginated S C K L X Delta Theta Pi f13 33 565 700 1010 1241 and even the Sinaitic Syriac (the other "Old Syriac" version.)
When we look at our modern English versions, we can see the differences caused by the ancient variants in the Greek versions.
The NASV, NIV, and TEV (among others) follows the former (erroneous) Greek text, omitting the "not even" phrase, while the KJV, ASV, RSV, and NEB (among others) preserve it.
Just imagine....we have [font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]f P0d [/font]begun to demonstrate textual variants from the other Gospels!
Shlama l'kulhon mhaymneh b'Mshikha,
As Eusebius tells us, when the time came to translate Aramaic Matthew into Greek, it was quite a struggle. From his comment, one would assume that many 'variations' occured since people (plural) translated it differently in different locations and times.
The examples of this historic struggle are numerous, as Akhi Dean Dana has already demonstrated a few.
Here is another example, which happens to have a parallel in Luke.
The verse in question is Mattai 8:10, where the Messiah's words are recorded as follows in the Aramaic of the Peshitta (as I have translated it):
[font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]Jwkl 0n0 rm0 Nym0[/font] (Truly (Amen) say I to you...)
[font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]Ly0rsy0b f P0d [/font](...that not even in Israel)
[font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]Fwnmyh 0dh Ky0 txk40 [/font](...have I found faith like this)
The parallel passage in Luke is 7:9.
The key to this example, and something that plagues any translator who is working on an Aramaic document, is the phrase [font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]f P0d [/font]which can't be translated exactly into any other language.
Literally, it means "that also not", but figuratively and idiomatically it means "not even." This association between the literal and the figurative (idiomatic) occurs only in Aramaic.
The parallel passage occurs in Luke at 7:9, where he also employs this terminology.
Some Greek versions, finding the phrase utterly confounding (they had no idea of the idiomatic meaning), altogether left out the translation of the phrase, and hence omit the "not even" in Matthew - yet retain it in Luke. These ancient manuscripts are designated B, W, f1, 892 cop and even the Curetonian Syriac (one of the "Old Syriac" versions.)
The other Greek manuscripts which preserved this reading in Matthew are desginated S C K L X Delta Theta Pi f13 33 565 700 1010 1241 and even the Sinaitic Syriac (the other "Old Syriac" version.)
When we look at our modern English versions, we can see the differences caused by the ancient variants in the Greek versions.
The NASV, NIV, and TEV (among others) follows the former (erroneous) Greek text, omitting the "not even" phrase, while the KJV, ASV, RSV, and NEB (among others) preserve it.
Just imagine....we have [font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]f P0d [/font]begun to demonstrate textual variants from the other Gospels!