Old Hebrew and Aramaic (OT infos from Josephus)

[konway87]

Hello Everyone,
It is interesting to note how Josephus separates Hebrew and Aramaic in his works "Jewish Wars" and "Antiquities of Jews." He calls Old Hebrew "Hebrew tongue" while he calls his spoken language Aramaic as our own tongue or "the language of our country" or "Hebrews calls .... or similar phrases like these."

Hebrew

Here are a few examples from The Antiquities of the Jews to make the point:

?and call it the Sabbath; which word denotes rest in the Hebrew tongue.?

?This man was called Adam, which in the Hebrew tongue signifies one that is Red.?

?Now a woman is called in the Hebrew tongue Issa.?

?He also commanded him to be called Israel, which in the Hebrew tongue signifies one that struggled with the divine angel.?

?Now the former of those names, Gershom, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies that he was in a strange land;?

?Adonibezek, which name denotes the Lord of Bezek, for Adoni, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies Lord.?

?Deborah, a certain prophetess among them, (whose name in the Hebrew tongue signifies a Bee,)?

?Now Barak, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies Lightning.?

?Now Naomi signifies in the Hebrew tongue happiness, and Mara, sorrow.?

?to a certain city called Mizpeh, which, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies a watch tower;?

?Now Nabal, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies folly.?

Aramaic

1) Jewish Wars Book Six, Chapter 10, Paragraph 1 - AND thus was Jerusalem taken, in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, on the eighth day of the month Gorpeius [Elul]. It had been taken five (34) times before, though this was the second time of its desolation; for Shishak, the king of Egypt, and after him Antiochus, and after him Pompey, and after them Sosius and Herod, took the city, but still preserved it; but before all these, the king of Babylon conquered it, and made it desolate, one thousand four hundred and sixty-eight years and six months after it was built. But he who first built it. Was a potent man among the Canaanites, and is in our own tongue called [Melchisedek], the Righteous King, for such he really was; on which account he was [there] the first priest of God, and first built a temple [there], and called the city Jerusalem, which was formerly called Salem.

2) Jewish Wars 1:3 - I have proposed to myself, for the sake of such as live under the government of the Romans, to translate those books into the Greek tongue, which I formerly composed in the language of our country..."

3) Jewish Wars 3:32 - Now the Hebrews call this food manna; for the particle man, in our language, is the asking of a question, What is this?

4) Antiquities of Jews 20:263 - "For those of my own nation freely acknowledge that I far exceed them in the learning belonging to Jews: I have also taken a great deal of pains to obtain the learning of the Greeks, and understand the elements of the Greek language, although I have so long accustomed myself to speak our own tongue, that I cannot pronounce Greek with sufficient exactness;"

5) Antiquities of Jews Book VIII, Chapter 3, Paragraph 9 - ?He also placed a partition around the temple, which in our tongue we call Gison, but it is called Thrigeos by the Greeks.?

6) Antiquities of Jews III.10.252 - When a week of weeks has passed over after this sacrifice, (which weeks contain forty and nine days,) on the fiftieth day, which is Pentecost, but is called by the Hebrews Asartha, which signifies Pentecost, they bring to God a loaf, made of wheat flour, of two tenth deals, with leaven; and for sacrifices they bring two lambs.

Here is the link where I got many of these infos - <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.allthingsaramaic.com/aramaic-languageofjosephus.php">http://www.allthingsaramaic.com/aramaic ... sephus.php</a><!-- m -->

[IPOstapyuk]

"Language of our country" does not prove to me to be Aramaic or else I do not understand it fully.
The words that he calls it Hebrew are from Paleo or Biblical Hebrew.
It is mentioned that in Acts Paul spoke Hebrew.

[konway87]

Hello Ivan,
We know through Acts 1:19 that all the inhabitants of Jerusalem spoke Aramaic in first century Israel.

When they mention Hebrew in New Testament, they were referring to Southern Aramaic.

For Example, John 19:17 calls Gagultha (transliterated as Golgotha) "Hebrew." But we know it is an Aramaic word. In Hebrew, the word Gagultha (transliterated as Golgotha) will become "Ha Gulgoleth."

Let me give some examples from Josephus.

1) Jewish Wars 3:32 - Now the Hebrews call this food manna; for the particle man, in our language, is the asking of a question, What is this?

Aramaic word "man" will become "ma" in Hebrew.

2) Antiquities of Jews III.10.252 - When a week of weeks has passed over after this sacrifice, (which weeks contain forty and nine days,) on the fiftieth day, which is Pentecost, but is called by the Hebrews Asartha, which signifies Pentecost, they bring to God a loaf, made of wheat flour, of two tenth deals, with leaven; and for sacrifices they bring two lambs

The word "Asartha" (transliteration of Aramaic word "Atsartha") will become "Shavuot" in Hebrew.

The word "Melchisedek" is an Aramaic word which means righteous king.

[IPOstapyuk]

When looking at expressions "Hebrew" and "the language of our country" then it looks that when it was not "Hebrew" then it was "the language of our country".
Josephus did here clear distinction.

[konway87]

We know that Josephus was a Jewish Priest. So he certainly used Old Hebrew for religious purposes at Jerusalem.

But we know his spoken language was Aramaic. We also know that there are no Hebrew documents of Jewish Wars. But Only Aramaic documents and Greek translation from Aramaic.

[konway87]

Aside from Josephus, we also know the difference between Old Hebrew and Aramaic through this information.

"YA" (Yodh Alap) is Aramaic form of Hebrew "YH" in YHWH. So the names will also get changed when they are converted from Hebrew into Aramaic.

Let me put Hebrew names on the left and Aramaic names on the right.

Hebrew - Aramaic
YEHOSHUA - YESHUA
YEHONATHAN - YONATHAN (JONATHAN)
YEHOSEPH - YOSEPH (JOSEPH)
YEHOCHANAN - YOCHANAN (JOHN)
YEHOIAKIM- YOYAKIM (JOACHIM)
YEHUDA - YUDA (JUDE)
YEHUDEA - YUDEA (Judea)

Note - YEHUDA and YEHUDEA are written in Aramaic exactly like in Hebrew. But "H" is silent except after proclitics (Introduction to Syriac, Pg. 35).

As you know, Aramaic was the spoken language of Jews until Simon Bar Kokhba tried to restore Hebrew as the official language of Jews instead of Aramaic during Bar Kokhba revolt (132-135 AD).

When Hasmonean coins were minted in Hebrew, the names also became Hebrew. Here are some examples from Hasmonean coins in Hebrew.

1. Yehochanan Kohen Gadol Chever Hayehudim" (Yehochanan the High Priest, Council of the Jews).

2. "Yehochanan Kohen Gadol Rosh Chever Hayehudim" (Yehochanan the High Priest, Head of the Council of the Jews).

3. "Yehonatan Kohen Gadol Chever Hayehudim" (Yehonatan the High Priest, Council of the Jews).

Here is the wikipedia link - <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasmonean_coinage">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasmonean_coinage</a><!-- m -->

When Bar Kokhba tried to restore Hebrew, the names of the people who lived during that time also began to get converted to Hebrew. For Example, Yonathan Bar Beayan (who worked with Bar Kokhba) came to be called "Yehonathan Ben Beaya." In Bar Kokhba letters, there is a man named "Yehoseph" which is Hebrew form of Aramaic name "Yoseph."