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Languages of the Bible and their speakers | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6067 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 49 of 53 01 December 2013 at 7:23pm | IP Logged | ||
This is definitely true. Call it "collective unconscious" or whatever you want, but there's something about these languages that sets them apart from all the others. Believer or not, you cannot be oblivious to the fact that at some point in time (even today) those exact words inspired some of the best (and sometimes worst) works and deeds of humankind. That's valid for all religions. And that's as powerful as it gets. About the languages: Aramaic: Lingua franca of the region, around Christ's time. Still spoken (according to my Arabic teacher) in Syria. BartoG's colleague is probably Syrian (or of Syrian descent). One of Aramaic's variations, called Syriac, is the liturgical language of several Eastern Christian Churches. Greek: Cultural language of the region, since Alexander's time. Anyone educated (like, for instance, St. Paul) would master it. And, since I also mentioned it: Sanskrit: Spoken in three villages in India as first language (according to my teacher). One of the official languages of the state of Uttarakhand and also one of the 22 scheduled languages of India. Hugely important in the region. Edited by Luso on 01 December 2013 at 7:33pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6709 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 50 of 53 02 December 2013 at 10:37am | IP Logged | ||
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I once visited a town named Maalula in Syria where Aramaic still was spoken (I heard it is a church, but we were told that it also was used as a regular language there)- But since then I have read some worrying reports that it has been targeted during the current war there, so heavens know whether this age old time capsule still exists).
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| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4713 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 51 of 53 02 December 2013 at 10:49am | IP Logged | ||
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It is still used as a regular language. I remember there was a Syrian football player who
played in Belgium and the Netherlands (now in Turkey) who speaks Aramaic at home. ETA: He is also the ambassador for the Arameans in the Netherlands and has written publicly (in Dutch) on this topic here Edited by tarvos on 02 December 2013 at 10:53am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5562 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 52 of 53 16 December 2013 at 7:29am | IP Logged | ||
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Neo-Aramaic is still spoken by over half a million people today, although they have largely faced great persecution and been forced to flee to different countries around the world. I worked on a project several years back to help preserve and raise awareness of 136 dialects of North Eastern Neo-Aramaic, and our team recorded and analysed data from communities in Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Georgia, and Armenia, as well as from other far-flung corners of the globe (e.g., we also found emigré families in Germany and the US). It's amazing to think that Aramaic was once the lingua franca of the Middle East!
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| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6709 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 53 of 53 16 December 2013 at 11:00am | IP Logged | ||
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As far as I know the language of modern Assyrians is also seen as an Aramaic language, sometimes under the name of Syriac - and I know that there is a special Syriac Christian church, which has a part of the Grave Church in Jerusalem and its own churches in a number of Syrian towns (I have visited one in Aleppo). But it is somewhat confusing because it isn't made clear how different the languages or dialects collectively referred to as Aramaic are. In Maalula they were quite adamant that they were among the last few true Aramaic speakers. Edited by Iversen on 16 December 2013 at 11:01am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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