Re: Hebrew and Semitic questions

On Saturday 15 February 2003 01:44 am, you wrote:
> 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.
Thanks.  I'll have to remember that if ever I visit Israel.  I'll try to find
all the most obscene Aramaic from all the Roman Empire's Syrian outposts and
drop them casually into polite speech.

Kinda like the effect you'd get calling Dubya the "caput mentulae" of American
politics.

Shalom

Wesley Parish

>
> Dan Sulani
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a
>
> A word is an awesome thing.
--
Mau e ki, "He aha te mea nui?"
You ask, "What is the most important thing?"
Maku e ki, "He tangata, he tangata, he tangata."
I reply, "It is people, it is people, it is people."