Spoken and written language of the disciples

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LtTony said:
Read this on another board:

“Jesus spoke Aramaic to his disciples and not Greek/Latin. So his Gospels should have been in Semitic language and not Greek/Latin. Most probably the disciples hardly knew any Greek/Latin, and maybe if Luke knew, he had to translate in his head.”

Comments?

ntgreek.org/answers/nt_written_in_greek.htm

answer-islam.org/Jesusspoke.html
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This was the Roman Empire where Romans were the conquerors, but preserving the Greek cultures. What are the odds of having no one among all your followers not knowing Greek or Latin?
 
LtTony said:
Read this on another board:

“Jesus spoke Aramaic to his disciples and not Greek/Latin. So his Gospels should have been in Semitic language and not Greek/Latin. Most probably the disciples hardly knew any Greek/Latin, and maybe if Luke knew, he had to translate in his head.”

Comments?

ntgreek.org/answers/nt_written_in_greek.htm

answer-islam.org/Jesusspoke.html
Click to expand...
meh

Just like it was for over 1000 years; though we had vernacular, the language of the educated class was Latin. That is what was written, though other languages were spoken. So it was the same with Greek at the time. The common language of the educated and the expectation for the written form was Greek.

Nothing to make any big deal about.

What might be a better question is why do we call him “Jesus”? Was he not called Yeshua? IDK? Maybe he wasn’t, I’ve done no research on the topic and know that the name “Jesus” has real meaning. … Just … you know, if you really want to go there…
 
I speak English on a regular basis, but that doesn’t mean I can’t understand what is said at an Extraordinary Mass. Just because one speaks a language regularly, doesn’t mean that he can’t understand another.

Second, Greek was the lingua franca of Asia Minor, I believe. It was what Latin became during Medieval Europe.
 
ProVobis said:
This was the Roman Empire where Romans were the conquerors, but preserving the Greek cultures. What are the odds of having no one among all your followers not knowing Greek or Latin?
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Because of the existence of the Sepuagint, I would same slim.
geekborj said:
What happened during Pentecost?
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Not following you…
InspiritCarol said:
meh

Just like it was for over 1000 years; though we had vernacular, the language of the educated class was Latin. That is what was written, though other languages were spoken. So it was the same with Greek at the time. The common language of the educated and the expectation for the written form was Greek.
Nothing to make any big deal about.
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Thanks. That’s what I thought.
What might be a better question is why do we call him “Jesus”? Was he not called Yeshua? IDK? Maybe he wasn’t, I’ve done no research on the topic and know that the name “Jesus” has real meaning. … Just … you know, if you really want to go there
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Me or the poster responsible for the topic?
The_Scott said:
Second, Greek was the lingua franca of Asia Minor, I believe. It was what Latin became during Medieval Europe.
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Thanks. Confirms the above.
 
I was in Belgium checking into a hotel in Bruges. The clerk spoke to me in English and then the next person in Spanish, without any pause to rethink her speech. My grandmother grew up in South Central Russia. They owned an inn and I recall her telling me that she spoke six languages just to be able to go out and play with other children.

The vastness of America makes it difficult to imagine how small Palestine and the Near East is. In teaching Bible Study on the Book of Acts, I have had to refer to geographic distances. Jerusalem to Antioch is 250 miles. In modern day terms, this gets you from the center of Israel past Lebanon and into Syria. For comparison, if I go east from my house for 250 miles, I will be in the neighborhood of Norfolk, Virginia. If I go the same distance west, I will not have gotten to the Cumberland Gap. If I go 250 miles north, I will be in the vicinity of Arlington, Virginia.

If you look at place names in Galilee in the first century, you see a mixture of Hebrew and Greek names. The area was known as the Decapolis, since there were ten majority Greek cities there. The four disciples who were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee had to sell their catch to merchants from Sidon and Tyre, and fish from the Sea of Galilee was consumed as far away as Rome. In addition, they also had to deal with tax collectors and with Roman officials. Thus they would have been conversant with Aramaic, Greek, and Latin to some degree.
 
LtTony said:
Me or the poster responsible for the topic?
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RE “Jesus”.

Sorry LtTony, your post rattled loose something that had been bugging me for a bit, but in one of those wonderful coincidences; I came across the exact explanation I was seeking in a study Bible I’m reading. To sum it up: Jesus = Joshua = Yeoshua = no big deal. And, this Bible, basically said the same thing regarding writing in Greek, though didn’t use any fancy terms like “lingua franca” ~lol~ I’m impressed, The_Scot. 🙂
 
Oldtimer_7 said:
I was in Belgium checking into a hotel in Bruges. The clerk spoke to me in English and then the next person in Spanish, without any pause to rethink her speech. My grandmother grew up in South Central Russia. They owned an inn and I recall her telling me that she spoke six languages just to be able to go out and play with other children.

The vastness of America makes it difficult to imagine how small Palestine and the Near East is. In teaching Bible Study on the Book of Acts, I have had to refer to geographic distances. Jerusalem to Antioch is 250 miles. In modern day terms, this gets you from the center of Israel past Lebanon and into Syria. For comparison, if I go east from my house for 250 miles, I will be in the neighborhood of Norfolk, Virginia. If I go the same distance west, I will not have gotten to the Cumberland Gap. If I go 250 miles north, I will be in the vicinity of Arlington, Virginia.

If you look at place names in Galilee in the first century, you see a mixture of Hebrew and Greek names. The area was known as the Decapolis, since there were ten majority Greek cities there. The four disciples who were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee had to sell their catch to merchants from Sidon and Tyre, and fish from the Sea of Galilee was consumed as far away as Rome. In addition, they also had to deal with tax collectors and with Roman officials. Thus they would have been conversant with Aramaic, Greek, and Latin to some degree.
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The Middle East has also been a trades crossroads for millenia. Caravans of goods and other supplies have been making their way through that area along with armies and other invaders for a very long time. Many of them came and set up new establishments and that cultural influence lasted thousands of years. So it wouldn’t have been uncommon for people in these markets, even small towns to hear perhaps four or five different languages as well as dozens of dialects. Being multi-lingual was a regular part of living in the ancient near east. Speaking Greek plus the language of your home town and region was a normal part of everyday life.

ChadS
 
ChadS said:
So it wouldn’t have been uncommon for people in these markets, even small towns to hear perhaps four or five different languages as well as dozens of dialects. Being multi-lingual was a regular part of living in the ancient near east.
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Good answer. Most probable.

And it wouldn’t surprise me if Christ had used mixed language code wherever He went. After all, he didn’t gain disciples (or even the Twelve Apostles) from only one culture.
 
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