Re: Can anyone translate English to Aramaic?

From: Fr. O'Malley (omalley_at_priest.com)
Date: 08/23/04 

Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 08:39:36 -0400

Peter T. Daniels wrote in message <4127C2E1.571@worldnet.att.net>...
>Fr. O'Malley wrote:
>>
>> Dan,
>>
>> Ignore him. He seems to be just a prissy little troll. He can't
>> translate it. Besides, he's neither a linguist nor a translator,
>> just a linguistician.
>
>What does "linguist" mean to you,

One adept at speaking several languages, a polyglot. Certainly
a specialist in the science of language, who may not necessarily
be able to speak or write competently any language but his own
should be called by a different name.

>and if you'll look me up at, say,
>amazon, you'll find out how much of a translator I am.

I've got a better idea. Why don't you post a translation of the
phrase into every language you claim to translate? If you are
indeed a Semiticist, post the translation at least into Hebrew
and Arabic; Akkadian and Assyrian will be extra credit.

>
>> Word for word translation is seldom a good idea but has a
>> time-honoured sanction in Biblical translation.
>
>We're not translating a Bible, we're translating some flaky New Agey
>perversion of some quasi-Christian slogan.

"We" are not translating anything, evidently. And the gratuitous put-down
of Dan's phrase reveals your underbreeding. I can see why Dan
is the writer and you are the critic.

>
>> I would suggest you contact a university department of
>> Biblical studies or perhaps even better, a google search
>> for Assyrians in the US should turn up several churches
>> whose clerics might oblige you by email. Perhaps
>
>Modern Assyrians are generally completely unfamiliar with any form of
>Aramaic but their own language and Classical Syriac, which is far from
>what you want here.

You're missing the point. If you know Syriac, translate the
phrase. If you don't, why participate in the thread? Then again,
you seem to have enough time on your hands to participate ad
infinitum in _every_ thread, day after day after day.....

Syriac is used in the Chaldaean rite, the Assyrian Church, and the
Syrian Orthodox Church. Any cleric in those traditions would know
it and it would provide a viable solution for the story.

>
>> Mel Gibson might recommend someone. ;-)
>
>Yeah, Wm. Fulco S.J., who put Church Latin into the mouths of
>Greek-speakers.

Who were the Greek speakers? I haven't seen it. I'm from the
old school which prefers Agamemnon butchered offstage.
Besides, it's only a movie.

>
>> Failing that, I am a bit rusty but I can offer this:
>>
>> Nur taw mo law chuinn ath-berfar dinih tofah o cholan as anam.
>>
>> This may not be grammatical Aramaic but is undoubtedly
>> very close to the language of the Lord. And it has the requisite
>> gutturals for a nice Semitic flavor. You can use it in your
>> story if you don't find something better. The only ones who
>> will understand it are native Irish speakers anyway. ;-)
>
>Yes, Dan, it ain't Aramaic.

Of course it isn't. I'm sure Dan picked up on the joke if you did.

But I am at a loss why any specialist in Semitic languages of
average competence could not translate so simple a sentence
at least to the level Dan says he would be satisfactory. With
a knowledge of Hebrew and Arabic and armed with a dictionary,
one should be able concoct a serviceable translation.

Even Fr. Fulco claimed only to have made an educated guess
as to what the dialect of Aramaic at the time would have sounded like.
Then again, Peter T. Daniels, I knew Fr. Fulco; you're no Fr. Fulco.

>
>> Good luck,
>>
>> Fr. O'Malley
>
>S.J.? or just B.S.?

Not S.J.

B. S. ? Bachelor of Science? Brothers of the Spirit?
Bonaventurae Sodalitas? Beatissimorum Sanctorum?

I pay you the courtesy of assuming you mean no disrespect.
I forbear to assume you would wish to reveal yourself
so unimaginative a boor.

Fr. O'Malley

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