It is generally agreed that the historical Jesus primarily spoke Aramaic,[1] perhaps along with some Hebrew and Greek (although there is some debate as to the degree[2]). The towns of Nazareth and Capernaum, where Jesus lived, were primarily Aramaic-speaking communities, although Greek was widely spoken in the major cities of the Eastern Mediterranean such as Antioch and Alexandria. Jesus may have also known enough Hebrew to discuss the Hebrew Bible, and he may have known Koine Greek through commerce in nearby Sepphoris.
Aramaic, as a Semitic language, was a common language of the Eastern Mediterranean during and after the Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, and Achaemenid Empires (722 BC – 330 BC). Aramaic remained a common language of Palestine in the 1st century AD, despite the subsequent Macedonian-Greek (331 BC) and Roman (63 BC) invasions. Indeed, in spite of the increasing importance of Greek, the use of Aramaic was also expanding, and it would eventually be entirely dominant among Jews both in Palestine and elsewhere in the Middle East around 200 AD;[3] it would remain so until the Arab conquest in the 7th century. Jesus and his disciples spoke a Galilean dialect clearly distinguishable from that of Jerusalem (see Jewish Palestinian Aramaic).[4] To give some perspective, in the same time period, the Mishnah was recorded in Hebrew, Josephus wrote in Hebrew, and Philo and Paul of Tarsus wrote in Greek.
Josephus in the preface to The Jewish War wrote: "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, and sent to the Upper Barbarians; Joseph, the son of Matthias, by birth a Hebrew, a priest also, and one who at first fought against the Romans myself, and was forced to be present at what was done afterwards, [am the author of this work]."
Most of the apostles from the Galilee region also spoke Aramaic. The message of Christianity spread (primarily among Jewish Aramaic-speaking enclaves) throughout Judaea, Syria and Mesopotamia, and even to Kerala, India in Aramaic (or Syriac; Aram is the Hebrew word for Syria).[5]
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Jesus grew up in Galilee. For over a half-millennium, the language for the region was Aramaic, stemming from the Neo-Assyrian Empire's invasion of the Northern Kingdom (722 BC) and the Babylonian captivity of the Kingdom of Judah (586 BC). This became a western-Aramaic dialect, a version of standard Aramaic (which had originally been the language of Damascus), and a number of Hebrew words and some Hebrew-inspired grammar were often mixed into Jewish usage. However, for some Jews, Hebrew remained a primary colloquial language, until the 3rd century AD.[6] Specifically, in the 1st century AD, Aramaic was already dominant in the regions of Samaria and Galilee, where Jesus came from, but a late form of spoken Hebrew, Rabbinic Hebrew, was still used as a vernacular in Judaea,[7][8] especially in the rural areas, outside of Jerusalem.[9][10] Nearly all of the Hebrew Bible was written in Biblical Hebrew including books throughout the Second Temple Period, and some deuterocanonical books like Ben Sira and First Maccabees as well, making it probable that most literate Jews knew the Jewish scriptures in Hebrew (especially as Hebrew and Aramaic are fairly cognate, even some parts of the Hebrew Bible are written in Biblical Aramaic and the square-script was originally Aramaic, artifacts of the classical period (during the period of the First Temple) such as the Siloam inscription and Lachish ostraca being written in the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet). There were also the Targums, Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Bible, though scholars debate how widely these were circulated in the 1st century in Israel, possibly only in specialized circumstances. Qumran may only know of the Targum to Job, an especially problematic book of the Hebrew Bible where the Greek translation also used the Targum (LXX Job 42:17ff.), though other Aramaic texts were found there. The use of Targums in the synagogue did not become customary until the end of the 2nd century CE, after the use of spoken Hebrew declined in the aftermath of the catastrophic Bar Kochba Revolt.
From the 2nd century BC, Judea had been heavily influenced by the Hellenistic civilization, and Koine Greek rapidly became the international language of the eastern Mediterranean, displacing Aramaic, and so became the language of travelling merchants. It is thus possible that Jesus knew at least market Greek. The canonical New Testament of today was originally written in Koine Greek, including many quotations from the Septuagint, but see also Jewish-Christian Gospels.
When Jesus is described by the New Testament as quoting from the Hebrew Bible, the quotations that are given most closely correlate with the Septuagint. Most scholars suggest that the New Testament authors most likely used an edition of the Septuagint, rather than translating a Hebrew (or Aramaic) source. However, among the Dead Sea Scrolls, in addition to various Hebrew versions of the Bible that resemble the much later Masoretic text, there are also Hebrew versions that more closely resemble the Greek Septuagint version (in similar fashion to the Samaritan Pentateuch) and some maverick texts.[11]
Because of the influence of Greek throughout the Mediterranean basin, even the officials of the Roman Empire did not really use Latin in the region, and so only a few words of Latin would have been known to most Jews, mostly confined to various symbols of Roman rule (such as the 'denarius' coin). See also Pontius Pilate for speculation on what language he spoke. See also INRI and Iudaea province.
The Greek New Testament transliterates a few Semitic words and phrases—some Aramaic, some Hebrew, and some that could be either. Determining the specific language is at times difficult not only because Aramaic and Hebrew are closely related, but also by the fact that the spoken Hebrew of Jesus' time is believed to have been Mishnaic Hebrew - a variety heavily influenced by Aramaic,[12][13] which incorporated a large amount of Aramaic loans (still more were adopted later into Mediaeval and Modern Hebrew from talmudic sources[14]). When the text itself refers to the language of such Semitic glosses, it uses words meaning "Hebrew"/"Jewish",[15] but this term is often applied to unmistakably Aramaic words and phrases;[16][17] for this reason, it is often interpreted as meaning "the (Aramaic) vernacular of the Jews" in recent translations.[18] The "Semitisms" are mainly words attributed to Jesus by Mark, and perhaps had a special significance because of this.
A very small minority believe that most or all of the New Testament was originally written in Aramaic. This position, called Aramaic primacy, has been rejected by most scholars. The consensus among scholarship is that the New Testament was compiled in the Greek language. However, many consider it probable that there was a Hebrew and/or Aramaic layer beneath the Greek sources to the gospels (see also Logia), parts of Acts and possibly in a few, limited other locations within the New Testament.
Mark 5:41
This verse gives an Aramaic phrase, attributed to Jesus bringing the girl back to life, with a transliteration into Greek, as ταλιθα κουμ.
A few Greek manuscripts (Codex Sinaiticus, Vaticanus) of Mark's Gospel have this form of the text, but others (Codex Alexandrinus, the Majority Text and the Vulgate) write κουμι (koumi) instead. The latter became the Textus Receptus, and is the version that appears in the Authorised Version.
The Aramaic is ţlīthā qūm. The word ţlīthā is the feminine form of the word ţlē, meaning "young". Qūm is the Aramaic verb 'to rise, stand, get up'. In the feminine singular imperative, it was originally 'qūmī'. However, there is evidence that in speech the final -ī was dropped so that the imperative did not distinguish between masculine and feminine genders. The older manuscripts, therefore, used a Greek spelling that reflected pronunciation, whereas the addition of an 'ι' was perhaps due to a bookish copyist.
In square script Aramaic, it could be טליתא קומי or טלתא קומי (read right to left).
Once again, the Aramaic word is given with the transliteration, only this time the word to be transliterated is more complicated. In Greek, the Aramaic is written εφφαθα. This could be from the Aramaic 'ethpthaḥ', the passive imperative of the verb 'pthaḥ', 'to open', since the 'th' could assimilate in western Aramaic. The guttural 'ḥ' was often omitted in Greek transcriptions in the Septuagint and was also softened in Galilean speech,.[19]
In Aramaic, it could be אתפתח or אפתח.
Mark 14:36
Abba, an originally Aramaic form borrowed into Modern Hebrew[20] (written Αββα in Greek, and 'abbā in Aramaic), is immediately followed by the Greek equivalent (Πατηρ) with no explicit mention of it being a translation. The phrase Abba, Father is repeated in Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6.
In Aramaic, it would be אבא.
Note, the name Barabbas is a Hellenization of the Aramaic Bar Abba (בר אבא), literally, "Son of the Father".
Matthew 5:22
(the bracketed text does not appear in all recensions and is absent in the Latin Vulgate)
Raca, or Raka, in the Aramaic of the Talmud means empty one, fool, empty head.
In Aramaic, it could be ריקא or ריקה.
Gospel of Matthew 6:24
Luke 16:9-13
In Aramaic and Hebrew, it could be ממון (or, in the typical Aramaic "emphatic" state suggested by the Greek ending, ממונא). This is usually considered to be an originally Aramaic word borrowed into rabbinic Hebrew,[13] but its occurrence in late Biblical Hebrew and, reportedly, in 4th century Punic may indicate that it had a more general "common Semitic background".[21]
In the New Testament the word Μαμωνᾶς — Mamōnâs — is declined like a Greek word, whereas many of the other Aramaic and Hebrew words are treated as indeclinable foreign words.
Also in Mark 10:51. Hebrew form rabbi used as title of Jesus in Matthew 26:25,49; Mark 9:5, 11:21, 14:45; John 1:49, 4:31, 6:25, 9:2, 11:8.
In both Aramaic, it would have been רבוני.
Didache 10 (Prayer after Communion)
1 Corinthians 16:22
In Aramaic (מרנא תא or מרן אתא) it means Lord, come! or Our Lord, come!
Matthew 27:46
Mark 15:34
This phrase, shouted by Jesus from the cross, is given to us in these two versions. The Matthean version of the phrase is transliterated in Greek as ηλι ηλι λιμα σαβαχθανει. The Markan version is ελωι ελωι λιμα σαβαχθανει (elōi rather than il-ee and supposedly lama rather than lema).
Overall, both versions appear to be Aramaic rather than Hebrew because of the verb שבק (šbq) "abandon", which is originally Aramaic.[20][22] The "pure" Biblical Hebrew counterpart to this word, עזב (`zb) is seen in the first line of Psalm 22, which the saying appears to quote. Thus, Jesus is not quoting the canonical Hebrew version (êlî êlî lâmâ `azabtânî); he may be quoting the version given in an Aramaic Targum (surviving Aramaic Targums do use šbq in their translations of the Psalm 22 [23]).
The Markan word for "my god", ελωι, definitely corresponds to the Aramaic form אלהי, elāhî. The Matthean one, ηλι, fits in better with the אלי of the original Hebrew Psalm, as has been pointed out in the literature; however, it may also be Aramaic, because this form is attested abundantly in Aramaic as well.[22][24] Curiously, already 4th century Church Father Epiphanius of Salamis considered that êlî êlî was Hebrew and the rest of the sentence was in Aramaic.[25]
In the following verse, in both accounts, some who hear Jesus' cry imagine that he is calling for help from Elijah (Ēlīyāhū or Ēlīyā). This is perhaps to underline the incomprehension of the bystanders about what is happening. [Or rather a bystander insult?] This detail has been argued to fit in better with the Matthean version, since êlî seems somewhat more prone to be confused with Ēlīyā(hū) than ělāhî does.[22][26]
Almost all ancient Greek manuscripts show signs of trying to normalize this text. For instance, the peculiar Codex Bezae renders both versions with ηλι ηλι λαμα ζαφθανι (ēli ēli lama zaphthani). The Alexandrian, Western and Caesarean textual families all reflect harmonization of the texts between Matthew and Mark. Only the Byzantine textual tradition preserves a distinction.
The Aramaic word form šəbaqtanî is based on the verb šəbaq/šābaq, 'to allow, to permit, to forgive, and to forsake', with the perfect tense ending -t (2nd person singular: 'you'), and the object suffix -anî (1st person singular: 'me').
In Aramaic, it could be אלהי אלהי למא שבקתני.
Matthew 5:18
The quotation uses them as an example of extremely minor details. In the Greek original translated as English jot and tittle is found iota and keraia. Iota is the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet (ι), but since only capitals were used at the time the Greek New Testament was written (Ι), it probably represents the Aramaic yodh (י) which is the smallest letter of the Aramaic alphabet. Keraia is a hook or serif, possibly accents in Greek but more likely hooks on Aramaic letters, (ב) versus (כ), or additional marks such as crowns (as Vulgate apex) found in Jewish Bibles. The standard reference for NT Greek is A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, Bauer, Gingrich, Danker, et al. (commonly known as the Bauer lexicon. Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon for keraia is here: [27]. See also the article on the antithesis of the Law. The English word "tittle" is a cognate of tilde and title and refers to the dot on top of a lowercase i.
Matthew 27:6
In Aramaic (קרבנא) it refers to the treasury in the Temple in Jerusalem, derived from the Hebrew Korban (קרבן), found in Mark 7:11 and the Septuagint (in Greek transliteration), meaning religious gift.
The Greek κορβανᾶς is declined as a Greek noun. Greeks regularly added endings to Semitic and Hebrew words when transliterating Hebrew words in the Septuagint.
Luke 1:15
Note that this word is used in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. This word entered Jewish Greek from Hebrew שכר, and like many cases in the Greek translation of Hebrew Bible, it adopted a more Aramaic sounding form (שכרא).
Mark 11:9
This word is derived from הושע נא. It is generally considered to be a quote from Psalms 118:25 "O LORD, save us", but the original Biblical Hebrew form was הושיעה נא. The shortened form הושע could be either Aramaic or Hebrew,[28][29] perhaps influenced by Aramaic, where a long form like the Biblical Hebrew one is non-existent.[30] Strictly speaking, one would have normally expected the Aramaic reflex of Proto-Semitic *θ in this root to be /t~θ/ and not /ʃ/ as in Hebrew, but the Hebrew-like form does occur occasionally in Aramaic sources.[30]
Personal names in the New Testament come from a number of languages, Hebrew and Greek are most common. However, there are a good few Aramaic names as well. The most prominent feature in Aramaic names is 'bar' (Greek transliteration βαρ, Aramaic bar), meaning 'son of', a common patronym prefix. Its Hebrew equivalent, 'ben', is conspicuous by its absence. Some examples are:
Mark 3:17
Jesus surnames the brothers James and John to reflect their impetuosity. The Greek rendition of their name is Βοανηργες (Boanērges).
There has been much speculation about this name. Given the Greek translation that comes with it ('Sons of Thunder'), it seems that the first element of the name is 'bnê', 'sons of' (the plural of 'bar'), Aramaic (בני). This is represented by βοανη (boanê), giving two vowels in the first syllable where one would be sufficient. It could be inferred from this that the Greek transliteration may not be a good one. The second part of the name is often reckoned to be 'rğaš' ('tumult') Aramaic (רגיש), or 'rğaz' ('anger') Aramaic (רגז). Maurice Casey, however, argues that it is a simple misreading of the word for thunder, 'r`am' (due to the similarity of s to the final m). This is supported by one Syriac translation of the name as 'bnay ra`mâ'. The Peshitta reads "bnay rğešy," which would fit with a later composition for it, based on a Byzantine reading of the original Greek.
John 1:42
1 Corinthians 1:12
In these passages, 'Cephas' is given as the nickname of the apostle better known as Simon Peter. The Greek word is transliterated Κηφᾶς (Kēphâs).
The apostle's given name appears to be Simon, and he is given the Aramaic nickname, kêfâ, meaning 'rock' or 'stone'. The final sigma (s) is added in Greek to make the name masculine rather than feminine. That the meaning of the name was more important than the name itself is evidenced by the universal acceptance of the Greek translation, Πέτρος (Petros). It is not known why Paul uses the Aramaic name rather than the Greek name for Simon Peter when he writes to the churches in Galatia and Corinth.[31] He may have been writing at a time before Cephas came to be popularly known as Peter. According to Clement of Alexandria, there were two people named Cephas: one was Apostle Simon Peter, and the other was one of Jesus' Seventy Apostles.[32] Clement goes further to say it was Cephas of the Seventy who was condemned by Paul in Galatians 2 for not eating with the Gentiles, though this is perhaps Clement's way of deflecting the condemnation from Simon Peter. In any case the relationship of Paul of Tarsus and Judaism (which this involves) is still disputed.
In Aramaic, it could be כיפא.
John 11:16
Thomas (Θωμᾶς) is listed among the disciples of Jesus in all four gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. However, it is only in John's Gospel that more information is given. In three places (John 11:16, 20:24 and 21:2) he is given the name Didymus (Δίδυμος), the Greek word for a twin. In fact, "the Twin" is not just a surname, it is a translation of "Thomas". The Greek Θωμᾶς — Thōmâs — comes from the Aramaic tômâ, "twin". Therefore, rather than two personal names, Thomas Didymus, there is a single nickname, the Twin. Christian tradition gives him the personal name Judas, and he was perhaps named Thomas to distinguish him from others of the same name.
In Aramaic, it could be תאומא.
Acts 9:36
The disciple's name is given both in Aramaic (Ταβειθα) and Greek (Δορκας). The Aramaic name is a transliteration of Ţbîthâ the female form of טביא (Ţabyâ).[33] Both names mean 'gazelle'.
It may be just coincidence that Peter's words to her in verse 40, "Tabitha, get up!" (Ταβειθα ἀνάστηθι), are similar to the "talitha kum" phrase used by Jesus.
In Aramaic, it could be טביתא.
Matthew 26:36
Mark 14:32
The place where Jesus takes his disciples to pray before his arrest is given the Greek transliteration Γεθσημανει (Gethsēmani). It represents the Aramaic 'Gath-Šmânê', meaning 'the oil press' or 'oil vat' (referring to olive oil).
In Aramaic, it could be גת שמני.
Mark 15:22
John 19:17
This is clearly Aramaic rather than Hebrew. 'Gûlgaltâ' is the Aramaic for 'skull'. The name appears in all of the gospels except Luke, which calls the place simply Kranion 'the Skull' in Greek, with no Aramaic counterpart. The name 'Calvary' is taken from the Latin Vulgate translation, Calvaria.
In Aramaic, it could be גלגלתא.
John 19:13
The place name appears to be Aramaic. According to Josephus, War, V.ii.1, #51, the word Gabath means high place, or elevated place, so perhaps a raised flat area near the temple. The final "א" could then represent the emphatic state of the noun.
In Aramaic, it could be גבהתא.
Acts 1:19
The place of Judas Iscariot's death is clearly named Field of Blood in Greek. However, the manuscript tradition gives a number of different spellings of the Aramaic. The Majority Text reads Ακελδαμα ([H]akeldama); other manuscript versions give Αχελδαμα ([H]acheldama), Ακελδαιμα ([H]akeldaima), Ακελδαμακ ([H]akeldamak) and Ακελδαμαχ ([H]akeldamach). Despite these variant spellings the Aramaic is most probably 'ḥqêl dmâ', 'field of blood'. While the seemingly gratuitous Greek sound of "kh" [χ] at the end of the word is difficult to explain, the Septuagint similarly adds this sound to the end of the Semitic name Ben Sira to form the Greek name for the Book of "Sirakh" (Latin: Sirach). The sound may be a dialectic feature of either the Greek speakers or the original Semitic language speakers.
In Aramaic, it could be חקל דמא.
John 5:2
Bethesda was originally the name of a pool in Jerusalem, on the path of the Beth Zeta Valley, and is also known as the Sheep Pool. It is associated with healing. In John 5, Jesus was reported healing a man at the pool.
According to Syriac-English Dictionary by Louis Costaz and A Compendious Syriac Dictionary by J. Payne Smith, the word hesdo in Syriac (or hesda in older Aramaic) has two opposite meanings: 'grace' and 'disgrace'. Hence, Bethesda was both a house of disgrace, as many invalids gathered there, and a house of grace, as they were granted healing.
(For other Aramaic place names in the New Testament beginning with beth ("house of"), see: Bethabara, Bethany, Bethphage, Bethsaida)
In Aramaic, it could be בית חסדא.
All Aramaic words are from A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Bauer-Arndt-Gingrinch-Danker (ISBN 978-0226039336). Though primarily a Koine Greek Lexicon (it is the standard reference for NT Greek), it includes Aramaic words in the Aramaic "square-script" alphabet.