Morris tribune., 1897-03-10
TIE LANGUAGE OF CHRIST.
Arguments Tending to show That IL Was
Syriac or Aramaic.

Arguments Tending to show That IL Was
syriac or Aramaic.
Mrs. Agnes Smith Lewis the orr
entail scholar who not long ago dis
covered an ancient Syriac text OF
the four gospels in monastery az
Mount Sinai and translated it, con-
tributes an article to The Century
in which she discusses the ques-
ton, What Language Did Christ
Speak, While many scholars be-
leye he spoke Greek, because three
Of the four gospels are supposed to
have been written in that language,
others believe he spoke a Semitic
tongue, probably Aramaic, which
was at that time the vernacular OF
Palestine, and with this belief Mrs.
Lewis sympathizes
In the course of this discussion
Mrs. Lewis brings out many points
Of interest Syriac, or Christian Ar
amaic, was the first language into
which the New Testament was
translated, Aramaic not being cor,
rupt form Of Hebrew, as many sup
pose, but distinct language. Again,
Hebrew had ceased to be the Ian
guage of the common people before
Christ's advent. The rabbits spoke
to the common people in Aramaic,
all the documents pertaining to law
and business were written in thai
language, and even some of the
prayers of the synagogue were
translated into it. The weight OF
evidence favors the theory that
Paul used the language in writing
to the Romans, or at least thought
in it, and that the most interesting
of our Lord s discourses were deliv-
cred in it. One Of the most impor-
tant of Mrs. Lewis arguments is
contained in the following illustra
ton Of her subject:
"We have, first of all, the various
Aramaic phrases actually embodied
in the Greek text as having been ut
tered by our Lord, such as ephpha
tina Che opened), talitha, cumi maid-
en-, arise), where the word cumi
might be Hebrew or Syriac or Ara
bic. And the last despairing cry of
our Lord on the cross, "Eloi, Eloi,
lama sabachthani?' is not translated
in the Sinaitic palimpsest, for the
good reason that it is a natural part
of the Syriac text.
Take next the names of persons
and places in the New Testament.
The Syriac word for son is bar, and
SO we have Bartholomew, Barabbas,
Bar Jesus, Bar iona, Barnabas, Bar
Timaus. Had Hebrew been the
spoken tongue these names would
have run Bartholomew, Ben-Jesus,
ETC. We have also cepha Ga stone,
feminine gender), Boanerges-that
is, Beni-rogaz (sons of thunder),
(the beautifully, Thoma
(the twin), Martha (the mistress),
Tabitha (the gazelle), Bethsaida
(house of fishing) Nazareth (watch),
Gethsemane Can oil press), Col
gotha (place of skull), Aceldama
(the field of blood). It may as well
be explained that the final syllable
of most of these names, a, is a dis
tinctive Syriac termination. The
words Mammon (Matthew vi, 24)
and raca (Matthew V, 22) and abba
are Syriac also. =
Mrs. Lewis cites many other con
indications that Christ spoke
in Syriac or Aramaic, the most of
which are too technical for use in
this connection She has poured
food of light upon a most abstruse
subject with the aid of her recent
discoveries abstruse,
first, for the mysterious reason,
which probably no one will ever ex-
plain, that Christ did not set down
a single line in writing of his doc
trines or teachings, and, second, be-
cause no one took down those teach
ings, they having been written in
their present form from memory
years after his ascension. The dis
oussion of this question will engage
the attention of scholars, and many
interesting contributions to the lit
erature Of the subject may be ex-
pected, especially from the new
point of view introduced by Mrs.
Lewis.