# Languages Spoken in NT times questions



## bmdowns (Dec 30, 2010)

What languages did the disciples of NT times speak? Am I right that the "street language" of Palestine was Aramaic, but that the "formal" or "religious" language of the Jews at the time in Palestine was Hebrew? In what language would have Philip spoken to those in Samaria? What about when Paul was going to Damascus? What about outside of Palestine...for example, in Antioch where the disciples were first called "christianos"...did they speak Greek in Antioch or was that simply Luke's transliteration in his account? When Paul went to visit the churches, would he reason in the synagogues in Hebrew and then make disciples using greek?
If I'm right in my cloudy recollection of the common language being Aramaic in Palestine, did anyone speak Greek in those regions?

I'm grateful to have a forum like this where I can ask such questions and not doubt every answer provided!

Thanks,
Micah


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## TimV (Dec 30, 2010)

Micah, Palestine had four main languages, with the Palestinian dialect of Aramaic the most spoken, and after that Greek. Hebrew was spoken as well by priests and others, and Latin was used as an administrative language. On the way to Damascus, Paul would have gotten by in Aramaic, which is still spoken in parts of Syria and Greek. Antioch would have been the same, being in the same linguistic/ethnic area where Aramaic was spoken for hundreds of years and until fairly recently by NT times part of a Greek speaking political entity.


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## bmdowns (Dec 30, 2010)

So concerning the spread of Christianity in the first two centuries throughout the regions of southern europe and asia, was the primary language greek...all the way to Rome? 

Also, what did they speak in northern africa?


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## Phil D. (Dec 30, 2010)

bmdowns said:


> So concerning the spread of Christianity in the first two centuries throughout the regions of southern europe and asia, was the primary language greek...all the way to Rome?
> 
> Also, what did they speak in northern africa?


 
As I understand it, in the first century Greek was commonly spoken in all but the most western regions of the Roman Empire, while as Tim noted Latin was the official administrative language throughout. We know that the book of Romans to the Roman church was written in Greek. By the second and third centuries, however, there was an increasingly definitive line between Latin speaking churches in the west, and Greek speaking ones in the east. Generally speaking the division in Europe can be placed at the modern eastern border of Italy, and in northern Africa somewhere around the western border of modern Egypt. I might add that this fact is seen in the languages that were predominantly employed in the writings of the various early church fathers who came from these two regions.


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## TimV (Dec 30, 2010)

Northern Africa as in Egypt was mainly Greek, since it was also until then recently a part of another Greek ruled political entity. Egyptian was naturally used by the common people, but Greek was the trade language and language of politics and scholarship. As one moved west, Carthage (Punic, related to Hebrew) was the trade language until they lost a third war with Rome about 150 years before Christ, so Latin became more common. Greek and Latin stopped being important farther into Asia past Syria (it was bigger then) because Persian became dominant all the way to Afghanistan (the Greeks held that area for a while, but not nearly as long as Syria and Rome never got near as far as Alexander did).

In Southern Europe Latin was the language of government, but Greek was still widely spoken in parts of the Balkans and around the Black sea, etc... But by the time you get to around what's now Romania, Spain and France, Latin began to become more common than Greek or Punic, which is why those languages today are based on Latin.


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## bmdowns (Dec 30, 2010)

you guys are super helpful, thanks so much....so when Paul would go into the synagogues to "persuade and reason," in what language would have they been speaking?


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## Phil D. (Dec 30, 2010)

From what I have read most scholars seem to think that Greek was most likely the language used to converse in first century synagogues, especially those outside of Palestine (where Aramaic or even Hebrew may have sometimes been used). This would appear to hold true even for the public reading of the OT, which was typically done from the Septuagint.


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