Re: Hebrew and Semitic questions
| From: | Dan Sulani <dnsulani@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Friday, February 14, 2003, 12:45 |
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On 14 Feb, Joe wrote
> On Friday 14 February 2003 12:28 am, Wesley Parish wrote:
> > Now that _is_ interesting. I would've thought, since Hebrew is actually
an
> > older West Semitic language, and the sacred language of the Jewish
people,
> > that it would've been the other way around. Evidently not.
> >
> > Why would that be., I wonder?
> >
>
> I would expect it is because Hebrew is now the colloquial language, and
you
> can't really exude elitism with your native tongue.
Sure you can! (This particular professor was obnoxious enough
purely in Hebrew! The Aramaic was just "frosting on the cake"! ;-) )
But to answer the question: it's more that legal terms in Hebrew
traditionally come from the Talmud, which is mostly written in Aramaic.
So, to a Hebrew speaker, Aramaic carries (Talmudic) learned overtones.
Throwing in Aramaic words where the usual practice is to use the
Hebrew equivalents thus implies that you are one of the learned elite.
Dan Sulani
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likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a
A word is an awesome thing.
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