Preface dialogue in Aramaic/Hebrew

[japhy]

Greetings, brethren! I am curious to know the words of the preface dialogue in the Aramaic or Hebrew Divine Liturgy: “The Lord be with you … Lift up your hearts … Let us give thanks…”

I am particularly interested to know if “Let us give thanks” is present, and if so, is it rendered as a word related to todah/yehudah?

Your (name removed by moderator)ut will be greatly appreciated!

 

[malphono]

Well, let’s see …

In the West Syriac usage, there is no equivalent of the Dominus Vobiscum. The Preface dialogue (which differs slightly by Particular Church) the begins directly with the equivalent of Sursum Corda.

Rendered from the traditional Aramaic usage of the Maronites, (and this is not the translation that appears in the English-language books), we have:

C: Upward let us raise our thought, minds, and hearts
R: They are towards You, O Lord.
C: Let us thank the Lord with fear, and worship Him with trembling.
R: It is right and just.

The specific wording of the Syriac Church is a bit different, but the essence is the same (and so is the verb for “thanks”).

The Chaldean (East Syriac) usage is quite different: it has an equivalent to the Sursum Corda, but the equivalent of Gratias agamus… does not seem to be present.

BTW, the word for “thanks” in Aramaic (tawdi) is from the same root as the Hebrew todah. That would apply to both the Eastern and Western dialects.

Hope that helps.

 

[Vico]

Greetings, brethren! I am curious to know the words of the preface dialogue in the Aramaic or Hebrew Divine Liturgy: “The Lord be with you … Lift up your hearts … Let us give thanks…”

I am particularly interested to know if “Let us give thanks” is present, and if so, is it rendered as a word related to todah/yehudah?

Your (name removed by moderator)ut will be greatly appreciated!

Chaldean Catholic
kaldu.org/14_Reformed_ChaldeanMass/ReformedMissal_Eng.html

The deacon proclaims: Peace be with us.
Priest: May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all, now, at all times, and forever and ever.
People: Amen.
Priest: Lift up your minds.
People: Toward you, O God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, O Glorious King!
Priest: The Oblation is being offered to God the Lord of all.
The people reply: It is fit and right.

 

[japhy]

I am particularly interested in the foreign words, not just their English translation.

Rendered from the traditional Aramaic usage of the Maronites, (and this is not the translation that appears in the English-language books), we have … “Let us thank the Lord with fear, and worship Him with trembling.”

The traditional Aramaic words are what I am interested in.

BTW, the word for “thanks” in Aramaic (tawdi) is from the same root as the Hebrew todah.

Thank you; do you know exactly how it is conjugated in the liturgy? What words are said when the priest says “Let us thank the Lord”?

 

[malphono]

malphono;6882485:

Rendered from the traditional Aramaic usage of the Maronites, (and this is not

the translation that appears in the English-language books), we have:

C: Upward let us all raise our thought, minds, and hearts
L’éyl nehwoun tlaiyn hownaiyn meda’aiyn ou lebawotho dkoolan.
R: They are towards You, O Lord.
Itayhoun lwotokh, moryo
C: Let us thank the Lord with fear, and worship Him with trembling.
nawdé lmoryo bdeheltho, ou-nesghoud barteetho
R: It is right and just.
showé ou zodeq
I am particularly interested in the foreign words, not just their English translation.

Oh, OK, I didn’t realize that at first. I interspersed the transliterated Syriac text in blue. Sorry but I don’t have a Syriac font (nor a Semitic keyboard), so I can’t give the actual text. NB: I also noticed that my original translation mistakenly left out the word “all” in the first invocation. It’s restored above.

In case you’re interested, according to the traditional rubrics the priest says the first invocation with arms raised. As he is saying the second, he bring his arms down and crosses them on his chest, right palm on left shoulder and left palm on right shoulder, and bows deeply. He then opens his arms as he rises from the bow and brings hands together. (While it sounds complicated, in reality it’s really a very graceful movement.) Rare is the priest these days who does it that way, though: the gestures more commonly used now generally have a rather Novus Ordo-style look. Unfortunately, I have to add here that one is not likely to encounter the Preface dialogue in Syriac in this country in the first place.

The word for “thanks” is bolded above. It’s simply the equivalent of the subjunctive, (“let us thank”). The accent is on the first syllable (“naw”).

I hope the above makes some sort of sense. If not, ask away.

 

[japhy]

The word for “thanks” is bolded above. It’s simply the equivalent of the subjunctive, (“let us thank”).

Thank you. So nawdé is a conjugated form of tawdi, correct?

My goal here is to see if the word for “Let us give thanks” in these ancient liturgies is related to the word todah, which is the name of the Jewish thank-offering. If nawdé comes from tawdi, then I’ve been confirmed, at least for the Syriac liturgy.

 

[malphono]

Thank you. So nawdé is a conjugated form of tawdi, correct?

Yes, that’s correct.

My goal here is to see if the word for “Let us give thanks” in these ancient liturgies is related to the word todah, which is the name of the Jewish thank-offering. If nawdé comes from tawdi, then I’ve been confirmed, at least for the Syriac liturgy.

I was kind of wondering where you were going with it, but now I see. The Aramaic/Syriac and Hebrew verbs from which the word derives come from the same common Semitic root (which is not particularly surprising since both languages are of the Northern branch of the Semitic family).