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The Languages of Acts 2
#1
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
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#2
I do statistics sometimes <!-- sSmile --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/smile.gif" alt="Smile" title="Smile" /><!-- sSmile -->
The numbers you give, are the absolute language variation counts. But not the number of people who attended there who spoke the language.
I find this an interesting comment.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://bible.cc/acts/2-9.htm">http://bible.cc/acts/2-9.htm</a><!-- m -->
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#3
Only one correction I can think of: Turkic was unknown at the time in Asia Minor. The various Turkic tribes were still in Central Asia/Mongolia at this time.

+Shamasha
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#4
Hi Paul,

to be exact Azerbaijan is said to be the origin country of Turkish people. Mongols invaded later Turkey, and therefore, some Turkish people have mongolian features.
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#5
distazo Wrote:Hi Paul,

to be exact Azerbaijan is said to be the origin country of Turkish people. Mongols invaded later Turkey, and therefore, some Turkish people have mongolian features.

Hi Distazo,

That's not true at all. The Azeri people are not Turkic ethnically, only linguistically. They are a Persian people, later Turkified when the Turks ruled the area.

Turks came from Central Asia originally, around Mongolia. In fact the modern Kazakh and Kyrgyz people are both ethnically and linguistically Turkic (and they are very Mongoloid in appearance)

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkic_peoples">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkic_peoples</a><!-- m -->

In Asia Minor in those days, the Turkish language and the Turkic people were unheard of.

+Shamasha
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#6
Thanks for the update Paul.
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#7
distazo Wrote:I do statistics sometimes <!-- sSmile --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/smile.gif" alt="Smile" title="Smile" /><!-- sSmile -->
The numbers you give, are the absolute language variation counts. But not the number of people who attended there who spoke the language.
I find this an interesting comment.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://bible.cc/acts/2-9.htm">http://bible.cc/acts/2-9.htm</a><!-- m -->


Shlama akhi,


i should have been more clear -- thanks for noting!


Chayim b'Moshiach,
Jeremy
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#8
Paul Younan Wrote:Only one correction I can think of: Turkic was unknown at the time in Asia Minor. The various Turkic tribes were still in Central Asia/Mongolia at this time.

+Shamasha


Shlama akhi,


thank you for the correction. i wasn't quite sure about that one!


Chayim b'Moshiach,
Jeremy
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#9
Burning one Wrote:
Paul Younan Wrote:Only one correction I can think of: Turkic was unknown at the time in Asia Minor. The various Turkic tribes were still in Central Asia/Mongolia at this time.

+Shamasha


Shlama akhi,


thank you for the correction. i wasn't quite sure about that one!


Chayim b'Moshiach,
Jeremy

Yeah, the Turks are relatively new to the middle east. Not native to the region at all.

+Shamasha
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