Hebrew/Aramaic Loanwords - Language Feature & Translator Practice

 

Throughout this blog, we are going to be examining many manuscripts of various languages and dialects.  For this reason, it is important to understand the concept of loanwords within the various texts and translations.  Within this specific post, we are primarily going to focus on Hebrew and Aramaic, although you will find loanwords also in Greek, Latin, and within other languages as you progress your studies.  We will also be looking a little more deeply at a controversial Bible verse that may (and likely) contain(s) an Aramaic loanword along with examining other less ambiguous verses.

Hebrew and Aramaic (although different in many ways) are sister languages --- along with Arabic.

Being languages that are so close in structure (having the same 22 consonant letters), many times you will find loanwords that cross over between the two languages (Hebrew and Aramaic).  This means that sometimes when speaking or reading Aramaic, you will come across Hebrew words, and sometimes when speaking or reading Hebrew words, you will come across Aramaic words.  It's that simple.

It would be like in English running across a Spanish word: "This is my abuela's house" meaning, "This is my grandmother's house."  It is not uncommon to see this pattern between various languages, especially when the languages are neighbors to each other.

Another example, in a modern Hebrew-speaking synagogue, you may hear the Hebrew terms "bar mitzvah (son of commandment)" and "bat mitzvah (daughter of commandment)" referring to a Jewish coming-of-age ceremony.  While "bat" is the Hebrew word (and sometimes used in Aramaic) for "daughter," the more standard Hebrew word for "son" is "ben."  Even when speaking Hebrew it is not a custom or common thing to say "ben mizvah," but rather the Hebrew-speaker would more likely say "bar mitzvah," using the Aramaic word "bar" as a loanword into the Hebrew language being spoken.

While the word "bar" is clearly Aramaic for "son," in Hebrew it more often means "pure," "innocent," or "clean."  In some instances, however, it is well-known to have been used as "son" in Hebrew, even tracing back to the Bible itself and also in antiquity.

A solid example is when "bar" is undisputedly used three times to mean "son" within the book of Proverbs in the clear Hebrew text.  There is no doubt that "bar" sometimes means "son" in Hebrew, but how often is a matter of discussion and debate (especially regarding Psalm chapter 2, verse 12). 

In the Jewish Syriac-Aramaic translation of Psalm 2:12 the word "bar" is kept/retained in the Syriac translation of the Hebrew text, retaining the meaning of "bar" as "son," rather than the Jewish translators changing the Hebrew word "bar" into the Syriac-Aramaic word "neqe," which would have clearly meant "pure" or "purity" in Aramaic.  If then the word "bar" in Hebrew was to be understood as meaning "pure" or "purity" within this verse, it would have been expected that it would have been translated accordingly into Syriac-Aramaic as "neqe," but it was not in this case.

There is surely some controversy regarding this loanword and its usage.  Some ancient Jewish commentators understood "bar" to dominantly mean "son" even within this Hebrew Psalm, while others thought it would make more sense to have meant "purity" in this Hebrew passage.  It is, however, possible that the word "bar(purity, or, son)" was chosen instead of either of the Hebrew words: "Ben(son)" or "Tahor(pure/purity)" because of the duality of meaning that having a more ambiguous word creates within this verse.

In other words, both of the common renderings/interpretations of the meaning of the word "bar" could be true in regards to the original intention of the text given by God --- "bar" referring both to "the son" and also referring to "purity."

Psalm 2:12 (translations)

Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed(ashre אַ֝שְׁרֵ֗י - happy) are all those who put their trust in Him. (NKJV)

Kiss the Son, lest Lord Yah be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Happy are all those who put their trust in Him. (Aramaic Peshitta Translation)

Do homage in purity, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way, when suddenly His wrath is kindled. Happy are all they that take refuge in Him. (JPS Tanakh - 1917)

The Hebrew text of Psalm 2:12:

נַשְּׁקוּ־בַ֡ר פֶּן־יֶאֱנַ֤ף ׀ וְתֹ֬אבְדוּ דֶ֗רֶךְ כִּֽי־יִבְעַ֣ר כִּמְעַ֣ט אַפֹּ֑ו אַ֝שְׁרֵ֗י כָּל־חֹ֥וסֵי בֹֽו׃

"Bat" on the other hand is less confusing as it is the clear Hebrew word for "daughter," and it is occasionally used in Aramaic instead of the common Aramaic words for daughter: "barta" or "brata."  This again could be the effect of the two languages being so close and easy to mix.  Mitzvah, however, means "commandment" in both Hebrew and Aramaic.

Here is a rough summary below:

-Ben(Hebrew) - Son

-Bar(Hebrew) - Pure, Innocent, or Clean; Son  <--- sometimes

-Bar(Aramaic) - Son 

-Tahor(Hebrew) - Pure, Clean 

-Neqe(Aramaic) - Pure 

-Bat(Hebrew) - Daughter

-Barta/Brata(Aramaic) - Daughter

-Bat(Aramaic - sometimes used) - Daughter

-Mitzvah(Hebrew/Aramaic) - Commandment

 

Other examples of Aramaic loanwords, Aramaic phrases, or even Aramaic sentences used in the Hebrew Bible include:

-Genesis 31:47 – the translation of the Hebrew placename: "Jegar-Sahadutha" (Strong's #H3026)

-Jeremiah 10:11 – a single Aramaic sentence denouncing idolatry occurs in the middle of the Hebrew text.

-Daniel 2:4b–7:28 – five stories about Daniel and his colleagues, and an apocalyptic vision.

-Ezra 4:8–6:18 – quotations of documents from the 5th century BC on the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem, Israel.

-Ezra 7:12–26 – quotations of documents from the 5th century BC on the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem, Israel.

-Genesis 15:1 – the word במחזה (ba-maħaze, "in a vision"). According to the Zohar (I:88b), the word is Aramaic, as the usual Hebrew word would have been במראה‎ (ba-mar’e).

-Numbers 23:10 – the word רבע (roḇa, usually translated as "stock" or "fourth part"). Joseph H. Hertz, in his commentary on this verse, cites Friedrich Delitzsch's claim (cited in William F. Albright' JBL 63 (1944), p. 213, n.28) acknowledging that it is an Aramaic word meaning "dust".

-Job 36:2a ("כַּתַּר־ לִ֣י זְ֭עֵיר וַאֲחַוֶּ֑ךָּ") – Rashi (in his commentary on the verse) explains that the phrase is in Aramaic.