06-20-2004, 03:13 AM
Hi John,
Jesus and the rest of the Jews in Israel lived under Greek and Roman military occupation and domination. Greek and Latin words crept into their Jewish Aramaic dialect as a consequence of this domination and oppression.
This is like the situation today in northern Iraq, where the Assyrians live under Kurdish and Arab military occupation and domination. Kurdish and Arabic words have crept into the Assyrian Aramaic dialect as a consequence of this domination and oppression.
The last great military leader of the Assyrians lived during WWI. He bravely defended the Assyrians against Turkish onslaught. He was called "Agha Petros." (see http://www.assyrianworld.com/famous_assy...yrians.htm and http://www.zyworld.com/Assyrian/Agha%20Petros.htm)
As you may know, the word "Agha" is of Kurdish origin, and it means "general~chief" in a military sense. One may wonder why an Assyrian Christian general in WWI was called by the Kurdish title of "Agha", especially when there are plenty of native Aramaic terms for "general" or "chief."
The answer lies in the dynamics of loan-words, especially within minority groups that are oppressed and subjugated militarily and socially by a different culture. The dynamics of Kurdification at work today in Northern Iraq are the same dynamics of Hellenization that were at work in Jesus' 1st-century Israel.
That we see Greek and Latin loan-words in the Aramaic NT is a testament to that fact. It assures us that the Aramaic NT was born in that milieu. From an Aramaic primacy standpoint, I thank Almighty God everyday that there are Greek and Latin loan-words in the Aramaic NT.
If someone pointed me to a supposed document written in Aramaic in Northern Iraq last year, and that document did not have Kurdish loan-words in it - I would immediately suspect it was a fraud. Because Aramaic as spoken today in Northern Iraq has Kurdish loan-words in it.....how could it not?
Jesus and the rest of the Jews in Israel lived under Greek and Roman military occupation and domination. Greek and Latin words crept into their Jewish Aramaic dialect as a consequence of this domination and oppression.
This is like the situation today in northern Iraq, where the Assyrians live under Kurdish and Arab military occupation and domination. Kurdish and Arabic words have crept into the Assyrian Aramaic dialect as a consequence of this domination and oppression.
The last great military leader of the Assyrians lived during WWI. He bravely defended the Assyrians against Turkish onslaught. He was called "Agha Petros." (see http://www.assyrianworld.com/famous_assy...yrians.htm and http://www.zyworld.com/Assyrian/Agha%20Petros.htm)
As you may know, the word "Agha" is of Kurdish origin, and it means "general~chief" in a military sense. One may wonder why an Assyrian Christian general in WWI was called by the Kurdish title of "Agha", especially when there are plenty of native Aramaic terms for "general" or "chief."
The answer lies in the dynamics of loan-words, especially within minority groups that are oppressed and subjugated militarily and socially by a different culture. The dynamics of Kurdification at work today in Northern Iraq are the same dynamics of Hellenization that were at work in Jesus' 1st-century Israel.
That we see Greek and Latin loan-words in the Aramaic NT is a testament to that fact. It assures us that the Aramaic NT was born in that milieu. From an Aramaic primacy standpoint, I thank Almighty God everyday that there are Greek and Latin loan-words in the Aramaic NT.
If someone pointed me to a supposed document written in Aramaic in Northern Iraq last year, and that document did not have Kurdish loan-words in it - I would immediately suspect it was a fraud. Because Aramaic as spoken today in Northern Iraq has Kurdish loan-words in it.....how could it not?