12-26-2019, 04:05 AM
I recently reread the footnotes to an English rendition of the Arabic Diatesseron, and the Arabic is clearly a translation from Aramaic. What language do you think the Diatesseron was originally composed in? (Greek? Latin? Aramaic/Syriac?)
The Diatessaron and the Language of its Composition, by Jan Joosten (fixed a typo)
https://www.academia.edu/37896763/The_Di...omposition
Conclusions
I summarize briefly: explicit testimonies about the Diatessaron show that it must have been a
writing published in the east that never gained currency in the Greek-speaking church. The
textual attestation of the Diatessaron confirms the eastern origin and early distribution of the
work. An analysis of the sources of the Diatessaron suggests that Tatian from the start
conceived his composition as a Syriac writing addressed to a Syriac-speaking community.
The Diatessaron and the Language of its Composition, by Jan Joosten (fixed a typo)
https://www.academia.edu/37896763/The_Di...omposition
Conclusions
I summarize briefly: explicit testimonies about the Diatessaron show that it must have been a
writing published in the east that never gained currency in the Greek-speaking church. The
textual attestation of the Diatessaron confirms the eastern origin and early distribution of the
work. An analysis of the sources of the Diatessaron suggests that Tatian from the start
conceived his composition as a Syriac writing addressed to a Syriac-speaking community.