Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Randall Buth <randallbuth AT gmail.com>]

shoemaker egrapse
> Which ancient languages are relevant to the study of the original
> New Testament and the 1st & 2nd century church?
> So far, my list of candidates is:
> Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Hebrew, Bohairic, Syriac, Ethiopic, Sahidic.
(George added Armenian, which is a good addition.)

It's a good list. And ones interests lead to natural priorities.

It might help to stratify the list. Two stand out as special and dominating:
Greek--after all, it is the language of the NT.
Hebrew--it is the primary repository of Jewish cultural background,
including DSS, intertestamentals, and rabbinics, not to mention the
Hebrew Bible.
I would put Aramaic-Syriac on a second tier, maybe along with Latin,
and then the rest on a third tier depending on specific interests.

-- 
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicallanguagecenter.com
Biblical Language Center
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