Shlama Akhi Otto,
ograabe Wrote:My guess is that in Aramaic the nominative case of this name happens to end with an aleph in Aramaic. The proper name apparently refers to God. No additional aleph is needed for the emphatic case.
Precisely, therefore there exists no orthographic reason to alter the name when in the Vocative (Emphatic). But in the Greek, the Nominative in verse Acts 5:1 required the addition of the S to the Semitic name, and the Vocative required the unnatural "-eie" suffix. Just features of each individual grammar, that's all.
But there exists more interesting points here. Every language has peculiarities when dealing with names of foreign origin. For instance, when Hebrew names are spelled in Aramaic, often times the final Yodh (in names like "Khanan-Yah" (Yah is Mericiful) or Zechariah), is replaced with an Aleph. In that sense the Aramaic orthography places more emphasis on phonetics.
When names of Greek origin, like Peleepos, Theophilos....or Latin names like Cornelius, are spelled in Aramaic the basic form is normally that of the Nominative.
ograabe Wrote:Isn't "Yeshua" the same in both nominative and emphatic cases in Aramaic unlike the Greek?
Otto
Yes, normally in Aramaic Semitic proper names are not altered when in the Vocative.
However, names of foreign origin (particularly Greek and Latin) because they end in a S (Semkath) are normally altered to end with an A (Aleph) when in the Vocative. This is to make them Emphatic ("O Cornelius!")
There is a similar feature in Arabic as well, although not affecting orthography. In Arabic the Emphatic (Vocative) is usually prepended with "ya" as in "Ya Cornelius!" ("O Cornelius!")
If the Aramaic was simply following Greek grammar rules, and showing itself to be a translation from the Greek, then the names would end in a Yodh to reflect phonetically the Greek Vocative "-eie" sound. ("Cornelie") But they don't end in a Yodh, they end in the Aramaic Emphatic Aleph.