10-12-2003, 08:24 PM
I was wondering about gender in Aramaic. I have just a handful of questions.
1. Does Aramaic use the masculine singular pronoun generically including females as in NT Greek and old-fashioned English?: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."
2. Does Aramaic have a word that usually means "man" in a generic sense that includes women, like the Greek anthrwpos?
3. Is there an equivalent Aramaic word that almost always means a male human being specifically, like the Greek anhr?
4. Like the Greek adelphoi, does the Aramaic plural for "brothers" contextually often mean "siblings" without regard to their sex?
5. Finally, as far as you know, how well did Zorba do in expressing generically masculine Aramaic terms by generically masculine equivalents in Greek? In other words, would Aramaic primacy have any effect one way or the other on the issue of gender accuracy in English Bible translation?
Thanks,
Tauf
1. Does Aramaic use the masculine singular pronoun generically including females as in NT Greek and old-fashioned English?: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."
2. Does Aramaic have a word that usually means "man" in a generic sense that includes women, like the Greek anthrwpos?
3. Is there an equivalent Aramaic word that almost always means a male human being specifically, like the Greek anhr?
4. Like the Greek adelphoi, does the Aramaic plural for "brothers" contextually often mean "siblings" without regard to their sex?
5. Finally, as far as you know, how well did Zorba do in expressing generically masculine Aramaic terms by generically masculine equivalents in Greek? In other words, would Aramaic primacy have any effect one way or the other on the issue of gender accuracy in English Bible translation?
Thanks,
Tauf