08-22-2008, 10:24 PM
Shlama Akhay,
In the Greek of Acts 8:27, we read with astonishment: <!-- s:biggrin: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/biggrin.gif" alt=":biggrin:" title="Big Grin" /><!-- s:biggrin: -->
One may wonder why the Aramaic word for "treasure", "gaza", is simply transliterated into Greek. Especially considering that Greek has a word for "treasure", of course. That word is ????????????????, "thesauros."
Here is the entry in Strong's for "gaza":
As you can see, it is of "foreign" origin (read: Aramaic) Additionally, it only occurs ONCE in the Greek version of the New Testament. Right here in this verse.
So there you have it, the Greek scribe simply chose to transliterate the word rather than translate it into the native Greek, ????????????????.
Now, what makes this example really interesting is if we consult the original Aramaic for the verse:
We'll notice that the word "gaza" ends with the suffix of the third person possessive (-h), which in Aramaic could mean "her treasure", or "his treasure", depending on vocalization. In the ancient script, however, the vowel markings were not present. So a translator must attempt to determine the proper translation with the help of the surrounding text.
In this case, no such help is found. In unpointed Aramaic it is indeterminate, except in the case of the plural of masculine nouns.
So what we have here is far more interesting than simply an Aramaic loan-word in the Greek text that should have been translated into "thesauros." And why, do you ask?
Simply because there are Greek manuscripts which translate, not in the feminine, but in the masculine. The Bezan text is one:
How could this be unless the Greek was translated originally from the Aramaic? This is regular text, not a speech being given by Keepa or Meshikha. This is narrative being written directly by Luke, himself.
The proof here is two-fold:
(a) the presence of the Aramaic "Gaza", rather than the Greek ???????????????? ("thesauros.")
(b) the rather common blunder of mistaking the 3rd-person possessive gender in unpointed (vowel-less) Aramaic.
+Shamasha Paul
In the Greek of Acts 8:27, we read with astonishment: <!-- s:biggrin: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/biggrin.gif" alt=":biggrin:" title="Big Grin" /><!-- s:biggrin: -->
One may wonder why the Aramaic word for "treasure", "gaza", is simply transliterated into Greek. Especially considering that Greek has a word for "treasure", of course. That word is ????????????????, "thesauros."
Here is the entry in Strong's for "gaza":
As you can see, it is of "foreign" origin (read: Aramaic) Additionally, it only occurs ONCE in the Greek version of the New Testament. Right here in this verse.
So there you have it, the Greek scribe simply chose to transliterate the word rather than translate it into the native Greek, ????????????????.
Now, what makes this example really interesting is if we consult the original Aramaic for the verse:
We'll notice that the word "gaza" ends with the suffix of the third person possessive (-h), which in Aramaic could mean "her treasure", or "his treasure", depending on vocalization. In the ancient script, however, the vowel markings were not present. So a translator must attempt to determine the proper translation with the help of the surrounding text.
In this case, no such help is found. In unpointed Aramaic it is indeterminate, except in the case of the plural of masculine nouns.
So what we have here is far more interesting than simply an Aramaic loan-word in the Greek text that should have been translated into "thesauros." And why, do you ask?
Simply because there are Greek manuscripts which translate, not in the feminine, but in the masculine. The Bezan text is one:
How could this be unless the Greek was translated originally from the Aramaic? This is regular text, not a speech being given by Keepa or Meshikha. This is narrative being written directly by Luke, himself.
The proof here is two-fold:
(a) the presence of the Aramaic "Gaza", rather than the Greek ???????????????? ("thesauros.")
(b) the rather common blunder of mistaking the 3rd-person possessive gender in unpointed (vowel-less) Aramaic.
+Shamasha Paul