How many people think the Old Testament is written in Hebrew?

Question

In Anthropology, the primary science that Archeology is derived from, we learn that IF two different groups of people are using a word that is pronounced similarly and has a similar meaning that the groups have had some kind of contact and exchange of ideas.

Much of the Old Testament is written in Aramaic, not Hebrew although both Aramaic and Hebrew are Semitic languages they are different, kind of like Spanish and French are both Romantic languages.

http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/august/Aramaic.html
http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/august/Hebrew.html

I was recently discussing a best answer I got from someone who did not understand translation.

I was discussing this with some other people and discovered that someone I thought understood believed that the old testament was written in Hebrew.

Kind of shocking to me. How many of you think the OT is written in Hebrew? How many know much is in Aramaic? How many have a clue how difficult translation really is?

Just wondering.

Thanks.

From:

http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/august/Aramaic.html

"Certain portions of the Old Testament (the books of Daniel and Ezra) are written in Aramaic, as are the Babylonian and Jerusalem versions of the Talmud. The Dead Sea Scrolls were written in Aramaic, in addition to Hebrew and Greek."

In addition many other books have Aramaic words as opposed to Hebrew words. This is similar to today where many English words are used when there are not words in the particular language to describe something.

If you use a Hebrew Lexicon the word origin, Hebrew or Aramaic is given although most people do not pay attention to that it seems.

The links I gave do not provide a starting time frame for Hebrew as a language and do not specify that Hebrew came before Aramaic, although many people believe this.

English came after Spanish yet many English words are used in Spanish to convey specific meanings for which Spanish has no words.

Interesting how people show how clueless they are.

lo cashuv, ani yadati ktsat

The primary trade language at the time of the New Testament was "Greek", but, because of the Roman influence there was a lot of Latin also.

The answers tell me a lot. Mostly that the majority of answers do not understand the languages involved, the concepts of multi-lingual communications or the issues of translation, especially when we talk about historical translation.

Some of you could try translating the English phrase "The man is gay" into a different language without any other context. Some of you will accept that the many is happy. Some that the man is homosexual. Others will, quite rightly, not be able to translate.

Even better, try translating "it snowed last night" into Eskimo.

Answer 1

The old testament was written MOSTLY in Aramaic... I also know that the New Testement was writting in Hebrew Latin and Greek. Translation is probably one of the hardest things to do CORRECTLY. You need a group of people to truly and accurately translate old writings especially when written in "dead" llanguages like aramaic.

Answer 2

Actually, most of the Old Testament is written in Hebrew, not Aramaic. Only portions of Daniel are written in Aramaic.

You are correct that Aramaic and Hebrew are similar, but Aramaic is descended from Hebrew, making Hebrew the dominant. Christ spoke aramaic as the common tongue, but it is clear Hebrew was understood by the people of that time (see Acts 22:2)

***
Are you aware that your links say the same thing I am saying, and do not agree with you? These links saw that most of the OT was written in Hebrew, and only part of Daniel and Ezra are in Aramaic, the more recent language.

Answer 3

I don't really understand the point of this question, but most of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, not Aramaic. The New Testament was written largely in Greek. None of it was written in Latin.

Answer 4

I didn't know. I don't know that I'd even heard of Aramaic (though it sounds familiar) before I read your post.

That's pretty interesting. I knew it wasn't written in one of the Romance languages, though, so I'm doing a heck of a lot better than most people. And now I do know. :-) Thanks, friend! I love learning new stuff.

Answer 5

I think that you wre mistaken. as someone who speaks/reads/writes BOTH, i can tell you that they aare very different (as you said), and that most of the OT is in HEBREW. there are parts in aramaic, but at least Genesis through Duet. is DEFINATLEY hebrew!

az atta medaber evrit? atta osseh targoomim? ani yoda'at she'zeh kasheh me'od. dash lecha.

Answer 6

the five first books are in Hebrew. i've also heard that portions or books were written in Aramaic.

what's your point
.

Answer 7

??Much of the Old Testament was written in Aramaic????
How much???

Answer 8

I have spent years re-translating the book of Genesis.
Its a *****.

Answer 9

I'm gonna go with cuchlain on this one. You are backwards.

Answer 10

I did.