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Ioudaios: DSS and Languag usage in C1 bce (fwd)
Crossposting from Ioudaios
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 12:59:46 -0600
From: Paul V. M. Flesher <PFlesher@uwyo.edu>
To: First Century Judaism Discussion Forum <ioudaios-l@Lehigh.EDU>
Subject: DSS and Languag usage in C1 bce
Here is an observation that may perhaps point to what language was being
used at Qumran. If you divide the Qumran texts into three categories, an
interesting result appears.
1) Biblical texts in Hebrew
2) Qumran "sectarian" documents in Hebrew, ie, 1QS, CD, pesharim, etc.
3) Non-biblical texts known outside Qumran.
The third category is made up of intertestamental texts like Jubilees,
4QLevi, Enoch, TgJob and so on. Many of these are in Aramaic.
So perhaps this suggests that the Qumran sectarians choose to use Hebrew in
their writings because they (the Qumran sect) spoke Hebrew. This was in
distinction to outsiders who wrote and spoke Aramaic.
Now the problem with this observation--apart from its generality--is that
it requires the scholar to take a stand on certain still-open questions in
order to draw conclusions about language usage. So it is quite difficult
to say anything direct about spoken language usage from the existence of
"100's of Hebrew texts" found at Qumran.
Paul
Paul V. M. Flesher
Religious Studies
University of Wyoming
Laramie, WY 82071-3353
>From FC@teol.ku.dkFri Nov 1 07:35:06 1996
Date: Fri, 1 Nov 1996 02:18:26 GMT +100
From: Frederick Cryer <FC@teol.ku.dk>
Reply to: ioudaios-l@Lehigh.EDU
To: First Century Judaism Discussion Forum <ioudaios-l@Lehigh.EDU>
Subject: Re: DSS and Languag usage in C1 bce
Paul's surmise here is more than reasonable; all the more so when we
consider that the few odd scraps of "economic documents" and the like
are likewise in Hebrew. It's been said that the language people
*count* in and the language they *pray* in is their linguistic
proprium. So it would seem. Of course, that makes me curious about
who the Aramaic speakers were...
Fred Cryer
>From mshulman@ix.netcom.comFri Nov 1 07:35:13 1996
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 19:03:46 -0800
From: Moshe Shulman <mshulman@ix.netcom.com>,
"Paul V. M. Flesher" <PFlesher@uwyo.edu>
Reply to: ioudaios-l@Lehigh.EDU
To: First Century Judaism Discussion Forum <ioudaios-l@Lehigh.EDU>
Subject: Re: DSS and Languag usage in C1 bce
>Here is an observation that may perhaps point to what language was being
>used at Qumran. If you divide the Qumran texts into three categories, an
>interesting result appears.
>1) Biblical texts in Hebrew
>2) Qumran "sectarian" documents in Hebrew, ie, 1QS, CD, pesharim, etc.
>3) Non-biblical texts known outside Qumran.
>The third category is made up of intertestamental texts like Jubilees,
>4QLevi, Enoch, TgJob and so on. Many of these are in Aramaic.
>So perhaps this suggests that the Qumran sectarians choose to use Hebrew in
>their writings because they (the Qumran sect) spoke Hebrew. This was in
>distinction to outsiders who wrote and spoke Aramaic.
>Now the problem with this observation--apart from its generality--is that
>it requires the scholar to take a stand on certain still-open questions in
>order to draw conclusions about language usage. So it is quite difficult
>to say anything direct about spoken language usage from the existence of
>"100's of Hebrew texts" found at Qumran.
The problem I have with this logic is that if we look at historical precedent,
it disagrees with this. Hebrew was the 'written' language for Jews in Europe
in religious writtings. But it was not their spoken language. That Aramaic
appears woul dindicate that this was a language that was understood, and hence
more likely there were large amounts of people speaking that language. (For
this reason the Talmud is primarily in Aramaic. In fact the Yerushalmi has a
much higher percent in Hebrew then the Bavli.)
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