11-22-2011, 04:32 AM
Shlama,
i'm firmly settled in Acts for the time being, and a thought struck me concerning the nations/peoples listed in Acts 2 who had come for the Festival of Weeks, and to whom the disciples were preaching the Good News in miraculous languages:
WHAT LANGUAGES WERE BEING SPOKEN??
here's my conclusion based on just a cursory scan (anyone who cares to clarify please do so):
Parthwaye? = Parthians ? spoke a Western Middle Iranian language
Madaye? = Medes ? spoke a similar Iranian language to the Parthians
Alanaye? = Elamites ? ancient Iranian language, distinct from others, though possibly related in some way to the Dravidian family (Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, etc.).
Beyth-Nahreeyn = Mesopotamia ? spoke Aramaic, Assyrian/Aramaic dialects
Yeehuwdaye? = Judea ? spoke Judean Aramaic dialect and Hebrew
Qapuwdqaye? = Cappadocia ? spoke a very isolated dialect of Greek
Pantaws = Pontus ? spoke a dialect of Greek
Aseeya = Asia ? likely the Southwestern Asian languages, being Semitic, Afroasiatic, and Indo-Iranian, and some Turkic languages ? this is a rather liberal guess here
Phruwgeeya = Phrygia ? spoke a language closely related to Greek
Pamphuwleeya = Pamphylia ? spoke an isolated dialect of Greek
Metzreyn = Egypt ? spoke Demotic Egyptian and Greek
Luwee = Libya ? spoke native Tamazight (Berber languages) and Greek
Rome ? spoke Latin / Greek ---- Jews & converts
Qreetee = Crete ? spoke a dialect of Greek
Arwaye? = Arabians ? spoke dialects of Aramaic and Pre-Classical Arabic, Thamudic, etc.
what i found interesting here that falls under the primacy topic is that the MAJORITY are Greek dialects, which would appear to be a somewhat important blow against those espousing that Greek was a standardly-heard language in/around Judea.
if Greek was so commonly heard and understood, why would those from the nations who were attending be amazed that these Galileans were speaking Greek + other languages?
of the 15 peoples represented above:
SEVEN spoke dialects of Greek
THREE spoke dialects of Aramaic
the remaining FIVE spoke various other languages
any thoughts???
Chayim b'Moshiach,
Jeremy
i'm firmly settled in Acts for the time being, and a thought struck me concerning the nations/peoples listed in Acts 2 who had come for the Festival of Weeks, and to whom the disciples were preaching the Good News in miraculous languages:
WHAT LANGUAGES WERE BEING SPOKEN??
here's my conclusion based on just a cursory scan (anyone who cares to clarify please do so):
Parthwaye? = Parthians ? spoke a Western Middle Iranian language
Madaye? = Medes ? spoke a similar Iranian language to the Parthians
Alanaye? = Elamites ? ancient Iranian language, distinct from others, though possibly related in some way to the Dravidian family (Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, etc.).
Beyth-Nahreeyn = Mesopotamia ? spoke Aramaic, Assyrian/Aramaic dialects
Yeehuwdaye? = Judea ? spoke Judean Aramaic dialect and Hebrew
Qapuwdqaye? = Cappadocia ? spoke a very isolated dialect of Greek
Pantaws = Pontus ? spoke a dialect of Greek
Aseeya = Asia ? likely the Southwestern Asian languages, being Semitic, Afroasiatic, and Indo-Iranian, and some Turkic languages ? this is a rather liberal guess here
Phruwgeeya = Phrygia ? spoke a language closely related to Greek
Pamphuwleeya = Pamphylia ? spoke an isolated dialect of Greek
Metzreyn = Egypt ? spoke Demotic Egyptian and Greek
Luwee = Libya ? spoke native Tamazight (Berber languages) and Greek
Rome ? spoke Latin / Greek ---- Jews & converts
Qreetee = Crete ? spoke a dialect of Greek
Arwaye? = Arabians ? spoke dialects of Aramaic and Pre-Classical Arabic, Thamudic, etc.
what i found interesting here that falls under the primacy topic is that the MAJORITY are Greek dialects, which would appear to be a somewhat important blow against those espousing that Greek was a standardly-heard language in/around Judea.
if Greek was so commonly heard and understood, why would those from the nations who were attending be amazed that these Galileans were speaking Greek + other languages?
of the 15 peoples represented above:
SEVEN spoke dialects of Greek
THREE spoke dialects of Aramaic
the remaining FIVE spoke various other languages
any thoughts???
Chayim b'Moshiach,
Jeremy