Biblical Hebrew Forum

[yochanan bitan <ButhFam AT compuserve.com>]

>and RABBOUNI "Rabbuni" 20:16 
>unambiguously Aramaic and not Hebrew?

but rabbouni is hebrew. cf. codex kaufman to the mishna. 
this, despite repeated references in NT secondary literature to its
"exclusive aramaic nature". 
both the earlier rabboun and the later ribbon are rabbinic and sound a bit
more hebraic than aramaic with the "o" vowel, though both rabboun and
ribbon show up in the later aramaic texts, too, probably as loans from
hebrew.

the other johannine forms are names and the josephus data are also hebrew
words, cited, as is normal, in an aramaizing form which was both more
widely used in the greek-speaking world and more fitting for greek with its
penchant for endings in vowels. (cf. shexar==sikera 'beer' in luke and LXX,
while remembering that the LXX is translating hebrew.)

>AKELDAMA, AKELDAMAK are all found, and 
>presumably the rough breathing in the Nestle-Aland text is an 
>editorial addition) that I doubt if we can be sure what language this 
>is.

it is aramaic, not hebrew, and you are right to point out that luke does
NOT call it hebrew.

randall buth