Hebrew hubris
I once worked with a very nice man from Brazil. He was deeply religious and told me he was taking Yiddish lessons so he could someday read the Bible in the original Hebrew.

I did not have the heart to tell him that Yiddish is actually low German.
(TommyShanks, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 17:49, 38 replies)

close but no tsigar
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_German_languages
( buffet_the_appetite_slayer ٩(●̮̃•)۶ jacked in to the ICE on, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 18:06, closed)

I assumed he said low out of lolracism,
not as a description of the category the language is in.
(eViLegion Chief Commissioner of the Scottish Lunacy Board, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 18:12, closed)

Actual quote from some old fart in Texas, approximately,
'Why can't they just talk English. If it was good enough for Jesus it's good enough for anyone.'
(the other guy not the one that gave you coochie warts, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 22:28, closed)

And of course Original Hebrew was pretty much a dead language until the late 19th century
revitalised by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda for spoken Modern Hebrew and in the written form by Mendele Mocher Sfarim. However, Hebrew as it stands is Modern Hebrew and in all probability the Bible as we know it was never in Hebrew although very likely it was translated in Yiddish and in that translation it would be more accurate than translations in other languages such as Brazilian Portuguese.
( d.r._and_quinch when will you be famous?, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 19:16, closed)

OT & NT
Wasn't the New Testament written in Aramaic?
(Carpe Cyprinidae, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 19:18, closed)

Greek actually
But some still like to claim Aramaic precedence.
( omnitruncatedkraken from Empire Algol, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 19:35, closed)

the Bible as we know it is a fable mostly translated from Latin and Greek. My point was that when translations
started to happen and it happened in Germany due to the invention of the printing press which then led to the Age of Enlightenment, then if there were original translations of what was already a fable then Yiddish would have been one of the first languages chosen as an original translation with Latin and Greek being the source code so to speak. Therefore, for a Brazilian to say he would like to read an original translation, Yiddish, is not so far fetched. although, somewhat lost in translation.

Aramaic and Jewish Aramaic - have you seen an original text of the New Testament to know. Mel Gibson thinks so.
( d.r._and_quinch when will you be famous?, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 19:37, closed)

Why not Vulgate then?
Culturally it would be "the" defining translation of so called Bible fable.
( omnitruncatedkraken from Empire Algol, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 19:42, closed)

I agree, and as such the original source for people to then translate into their languages as opposed
to having to learn the dead Latin language. Nothing peskier than letting people read in their own language.
( d.r._and_quinch when will you be famous?, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 19:50, closed)

cheers for that
for some reason I thought the dead sea scrolls were all in Aramaic and represented the earliest known bible - I went back to check, turns out some of them were documents in Aramaic but the bible copy and most of the other items were in Hebrew
(Carpe Cyprinidae, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 20:14, closed)

Hebrew?

( d.r._and_quinch when will you be famous?, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 20:16, closed)

apparently yes
the bible found among the dead sea scrolls is the oldest Hebrew language version of the bible ever discovered
(Carpe Cyprinidae, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 20:28, closed)

there are what are thought to be quotes from the book of Numbers in paleo-Hebrew script
dating from late pre-exilic times (about 600 BC) on a pair of tiny silver scrolls.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketef_Hinnom
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 21:15, closed)

just spent fascinating 40-odd minutes reading about paleography. cheers for the spur to learn something
(Carpe Cyprinidae, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 22:01, closed)

the official version the Jews use is in Hebrew as well,
called the Masoretic text and dates back to at least 10th century. It was a dead as a spoken language but still kept on in textual form.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 21:12, closed)

That most Jewish people at that time did not comprehend as text. Making it very dead?

( d.r._and_quinch when will you be famous?, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 21:46, closed)

yes it's dead,
but that doesn't mean it isn't used as the basis for translations. It reads a bit like Shakespearean English to Modern Hebrew speakers, I think.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 21:50, closed)

You may have missed my earlier remarks regarding Hebrew and I have just realised I am
way out of my league. I am going to watch re-runs of 3-2-1.
( d.r._and_quinch when will you be famous?, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 21:53, closed)

the New Testament was written in Greek
and translated into Latin. There are still extant early copies of all the books of the Greek New Testament that predate the Vulgate by more than a century.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 21:19, closed)

So, is that Modern Greek or Ancient Greek?

( d.r._and_quinch when will you be famous?, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 21:43, closed)

given that we're talking 2nd and 3rd century here,
that would be ancient Koine Greek.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 21:44, closed)

A dead language then, apart from academia - of course.

( d.r._and_quinch when will you be famous?, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 21:45, closed)

Not sure what your point is.
I thought you were denying an ancient Greek and Hebrew original.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 21:51, closed)

I am only a holocaust denier. I find eye witness accounts and evidence beyond the pale.
UFO and ghosts, now your talking.
( d.r._and_quinch when will you be famous?, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 21:56, closed)

Fair enough.
I haven't looked for UFO footage on Youtube for a while now you mention it, that's sometimes good for a laugh.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 21:57, closed)

Well, there are some truly delusional ET/UFO channels available.
They have special glasses where they witness space battles and everything, was the last such channel I witnessed.

Open your eyes NASA - IT IS OUT THERE - WHY THE COVER UP.

I was not denying the languages BTW. But this thread has been deemed dull so that is it. They will prob' get me in the showers later. :-(
( d.r._and_quinch when will you be famous?, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 22:12, closed)

Congratulations
on starting the dullest thread in /qotw history.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 20:28, closed)

You have a very short memory or attention span. Or both.
Arrgghh, you're such a FUCKING MALE. AHHHHH
( d.r._and_quinch when will you be famous?, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 20:53, closed)

As if anyone pays any attention to Vagabond.

( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 23:03, closed)

You beat me to it.
Still better than s0ckpuppet's mentalisms, mind you.
(McChinaman banned, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 21:18, closed)

No need to insult Mentalists and Mentalism. They are very different to mental illness.

( d.r._and_quinch when will you be famous?, Fri 13 Dec 2013, 21:40, closed)

Yeah. The historicity and origins of the religious faith of a couple of billion people is much duller than the non-anecdotes and virgin lies this place normally produces.

( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Sat 14 Dec 2013, 12:23, closed)

Wow.
37 replies and I can only see six of them.

Who is CrybabyCyanide and what have I done to uspet her?
( Albert Marshmallow is a completely irredeemable cunt, Mon 16 Dec 2013, 9:03, closed)