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  • From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Aramaic - Abba
  • Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 14:56:37 -0500

Dear Peter

Well, there are several apparently Aramaic words recorded in
transliteration in Mark's gospel, e.g. TALIQA in 5:41 and SABACQANI in
15:34 (Q = theta, C = chi), and an apparently Hebrew one, ELWI = Elohi
in 15:34 (W = omega). Translations into Greek are given for all of them,
just as for "Abba". One interpretation is that Jesus was always speaking
Aramaic. Another is that Jesus was normally speaking Hebrew which was
translated into Greek, and the few Aramaic words preserved are preserved
to show their distinctively Aramaic nature.


HH: Here is somebody on the faculty of Emory University who understands Mark 15:34 to involve Aramaic:
http://www.religion.emory.edu/faculty/robbins/SRI/Examples/textures/inter/recontextualization.html

The third instance of intertexture creates the speech in Jesus' mouth in the scene of his crying out and death (15:33-39). In this instance, Markan discourse creates a chreia directly out of Psalm 22:1:
And at the ninth hour Jesus called out with a loud sound,
"Eloi, Eloi lema sabachthani?"
which is translated, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me." (Mark 15:34) This time an entire line of Psalm 22 is recontextualized as speech of Jesus himself. In Theon's terms (Hock and O'Neil), this is a chreia with a "commentary" that provides a translation of the Aramaic sounds.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard







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