LANGUAGES USED in NT
1. Aramaic
It is a Semitic
language closely related to Hebrew. Originally the language of the Arameans
(Aram, the Hebrew word for Syria). It was used in many dialectical forms in Mesopotamia
and Syria before 1000 BC and later became the lingua franca of the Middle East.
In the
phenomenal wave of expansion, Aramaic spread over Palestine, large areas of
Asia and Egypt replacing many languages, including Akkadian and Hebrew. For
about 1000 years, it served as the official and written language of the near
east officially beginning with the Assyrian Empire which had adopted Aramaic as
its official language.
The conquest by
Alexander the Great did not destroy the Aramaic language and literature
immediately. Aramaic that bears a close resemblance to that of the 5th
century BC can be found right up to the early 2nd century BC.
Despite Hellenistic influences that follows the conquest of Alexander the
Great, Aramaic remained the vernacular language of many of the cities of
Palestine Syria and the adjacent countries.
It ceded to
Arabic only in the 9th century AD, two full centuries after the
Islamic conquest of Damascus in 633 and Jerusalem in 635AD.
During the
Hellenistic period of the Seleucids, Aramaic ceased to be a uniform language.
Various dialects were formed due to the regional influences and pronunciation
of vocabularies.
The Seleucids
imposed Greek as the official language, but Aramaic continued to be used by the
Jews. In the 3rd Century BC, Greek overtook Aramaic as the common
language of Egypt and Syria.
Jesus spoke
Aramaic but a dialectical form particular to the region of Galilee and a
Galilean version of Western Aramaic. Mk. 5:41; Matt. 7:46; Mk. 14:36; Matt.
16:17; Matt. 10:25; Matt. 12:27.
2. Hebrew
There is also
the possibility that Jesus spoke Hebrew- Lk 4:16-20 indicated he read from the
‘haptara’ which is the Hebrew lection
from the prophets in the Synagogue worship.
3. Koine
In the Classical
Era (1000BC to 330AD) there were several Greek dialects four of which were
dominant – Aeolic, Doric, Ionia and Attic. An offspring of Ionic, Attic was the
dialect of Athens during the golden age of classical Greek. The Koine was born
out of the conquest of Alexander in the 4th century BC.
Koine means
common, also called as Alexander dialect or common Attic or Hellenistic Greek.
i.
Alexander’s
troops (50,000) which he gathers from different parts to fight the Turks have
to speak to one another. This cross-contact produced a melting pot Greek.
ii.
The
conquered cities and colonies learnt Greek as a common language. During this
process, a lot of changes occurred and gave Greek its universal character.
iii.
The
relationship between Macedonia and Greece exemplified by the love of
Alexander’s father Philip II of Macedon and for things Greek and Alexander’s
own education by Aristotle.
Jesus and Greek:
i.
Nazareth
was on the same trade route with places
like Sepphoris where both Greek and Aramaic were spoken and it was situated
near the primary Gentile Decapolis in the region of Galilee.
ii.
Jesus
was involved in a trade where it was reasonable to have contact with others,
rather than only with his own people, possible including Roman who also spoke
Greek.
iii.
The
nature of his ministry was itenerant.
iv.
Mk.
15:2-5 (Jesus and Pilate)
Types of Koine Greek
i.
Vernacular/Vulgar:
This
is the language of the speech, the colloquial, popular speech. It is found
principally in the papyri and ostraca excavated from Egypt.
ii.
Literary Koine
Greek: A
more published Koine. This is the language of scholars, academicians and
historians. Evidence can be seen in the writings of Josephus, Philo, Strabo,
Plutarch and others.
iii. Conversational Koine: It is typically
the spoken language of educated people. It is grammatically correct for the most
part, but not on the same literary level.
iv. Atticistic Koine: Atticistic Koine is an artificial
language revived by some of the litterateurs who did cot care for what had
become of the language much like many of the advocates of King James Version.
This is evident from the works of Lucian, Chrysostom, Aristotle etc.
Unique features of Koine Greek
i.
Shorter and simpler sentences replaced the often
complex sentences of classical Greek. Fewer particles and conjunctions were
used, several of which were pressed into service to accomplish many different
parts/purposes.
ii. Parataxis (to
place side by side) as a literary technique that favours simple sentences with
the use of coordinating, rather than subordinating conjunctions increased.
iii. Direct discourse
was favoured over indirect discourse.
iv. Confusion and
overlapping of prepositions increased.
v. Vowel reduction
happened.
vi. Declinational
endings of nouns and adjectives and verbs was regularized and simplified with a
regular aorist replacing the irregular second aorist ending.
vii. The middle voice
was reduced in importance, often replaced by the passive.
viii.The subjunctive
with the ίνα began to replace the infinitive.
ix. Periphrasio
(sentences) increased in frequencies.
x. Optative use
decreased (to express wish).
xi. The number of
cases decreased (locative, instrumental and ablative cases subsided).
4. Latin
It was spoken by
the Roman armies but it had almost no impact on the linguistic landscape. The
term Latin occurs in the NT only in John 19:20 and in Lk. 23:38.
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