I must admit that I am surprised at my readership. Although I can imagine a number of individuals (you know who you are) realizing the absurdity of the document and hesitating to admit it. 🙂
What you are looking at is the physical echo of a daydream, late one evening when I thought to myself:
In the wee hours of the night, refusing sleep, after translating and typesetting (both sloppliy), cutting and crinkling, the “artifact” was born:
The “ancient” document, itself, is a birth certificate for Barack Obama, placing his point of origin in Babylon at around 516-515 BCE.
Originally, I planned on sending a copy of it hand-inked on actual papyrus to the President, himself as a belated birthday gift, along with a cover letter explaining everything that went into it… but I figured that it might not be in good taste… (and at the same time might get me on some lists… or not but who knows? If there are I’m probably already on them. 🙂 ).
In either case, I hesitated and decided to share it on here with everyone else instead, so that ancient language buffs may enjoy a bit of a chuckle.
(Incidentally, if you’re interested in a copy of it, send me an email.)
I’ve taken the time to “transcribe” a good portion of the document, and I’m “curious” as to what some of my more academic readers out there think. 🙂
פתגם מולדא יום ואתר מולד שתה בירחה שתיתי בשנת שתיתי
זי דריהוש מלכא בבל
שם ברך הסין אובמה תנינא
אב שם שנן אתר מולד פלח ברך הסין אובמה כ קניא
תלמידא אם שם שם בתולה אתר מולד סטנלי חנה אובמה
דונהם יח קנסס יום פתגמא שבע בירחה שתיתי בשנת שתיתי
זי דריהוש מלכאעל בית פקידא לחוד
And then the final paragraph which I’ll type in later (but 20 points to whomever does it before I do).
Comments? 🙂
Peace, -Steve
UPDATE ABOUT 6 YEARS LATER: If you haven’t “gotten” the joke here, please read this post. 🙂
I’ve seen a lot of oddities come across my desk from individuals looking to have Aramaic identified and translated. Pottery sherds, pottery shards (yes, there is a difference), incantation bowls, old Ketubahs that people find in their attics (my personal favorite), prayer books, jewelry, and even a copper scroll (not “The” Copper Scroll, but *a* copper scroll, no joke); but, when this came to me, I was a bit stunned. This is the very first time I have ever seen an artifact this unique.
It is a rather crumbling piece of papyrus that was once sealed with a wax impression. It is old. The handwriting and dialect unmistakably place the text as Imperial Aramaic.
At the top I can make out “ש[נת] ש[תי]תי ז[י] דריהוש מלכא” == “the si[xt]h [yea]r o[f] King Darius,” (placing it during the Persian Administration) and the rest of it seems to be dealing with matters of inheritance within a family.
However, in the meat of the document, I immediately came upon some trouble with the phrase “ברך הסין אובמה” which was sticking out in the middle of the text. It gave me some serious difficulty.
“ברך” is certainly from the root “to bless” and “אובמה” seemed to come from the root “יבם” (“to marry a brother’s widow”). Given this, I thought might be able to interpret “הסין” as the name “Hasin” and the context would be that this individual was cause to marry his brother’s widow to continue the family line under the blessing of the widow’s father.
However, this would require “יבם” to be in the Causitive form, specifically Aphel. Simply put, it couldn’t be in Aphel, given the dialect, and given other demonstrated use of the Haphel elsewhere (the Haphel Causitive didn’t become Aphel until after Imperal Aramaic).
After relaxing with a hot cup of tea and staring at that bit of text in context, I made the following strange connection:
Even when writing this I’m still in a bit of shock. Am I seeing things? I feel that I’ve looked over that blasted YouTube video one too many times and that it’s affecting me in a horrible way. I’m going to try and get some photos of this up ASAP so that others can take a closer look before I take the time to properly photograph the document in high resolution.
Peace,
-Steve
PS: Today is his birthday, no? I need some sleep… This day has been too much.
PPS: First photo is up. Not only do I have poor light this time of the evening, but I now feel I need to upgrade my iPhone.
UPDATE ABOUT 6 YEARS LATER: If you haven’t “gotten” the joke here, please read this post. 🙂
Now for those of you who are regular readers of this blog, you know that I do not dive into matters of theology here. I try my best to simply represent issues as they pop up in scholarship and popular culture, and when an issue such as this (which breaches both theology *and* politics… yeesh…) I proceed…
… hesitantly…
The following clip appeared 3 days ago on YouTube, and since has had over 100,000 views:
UPDATE August 28 2014: The original video was taken down years ago, but recently there has been a sudden surge of traffic to this article so I looked about and found that the video was re-uploaded to YouTube and now has over 600,000 hits. Here it is:
I originally decided to shy away from this video clip, but when I saw that Salon.com had picked it up through my news feeds (if anything even mentions “Aramaic” on the Internet, I hear about it), I figured it was in the limelight enough to finally comment.
So here is my analysis, theology and politics 100% removed. This is a look into the actual claims of the video. The following transcript is reproduced under Fair Use Doctrine for the purposes of criticism in a manner consistent with current protections and rulings:
Luke 10:18:
And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning falling from the heavens.
“These words are written in Greek and translated to English; however, Jesus spoke these words originally in Aramaic, which is the most ancient form of Hebrew.
As you know, the Old Testament was written in Hebrew. If a modern Jewish Rabbi were to speak these words of Jesus today, he would speak them in Hebrew, much the same way that Jesus would have spoken them.”
Mistaken Claim: Aramaic is not the most ancient form of Hebrew. Since Hebrew is a Canaanite language, the most ancient form of Hebrew would be Proto-Canaanite. Jesus spoke Old Galilean Aramaic, which is part of the Aramaic language family. Eventually the Canaanite and Aramaic language families date back to Proto-Semitic, but that is certainly beyond the scope of this claim. The two are very different languages.
“So in Hebrew Jesus said that he saw Satan falling ‘as lightning from the heights’ or ‘from the heavens.’
So what are the words for ‘lightning’ and ‘heights’ or ‘heavens’ in Hebrew?
From the Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary word #1299: A primitive root-word meaning ‘to lighten’ or ‘lightning’ or ‘to cast forth’ — the word is “BARAQ”.
In the Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary word #1300: ‘lightning’ or by analogy ‘a gleam, a flashing sword, or a brightness or a glittering’ — the Hebrew word is “Baw-Rawk”
So ‘lightning’ or ‘a flash of light’ in Hebrew is pronounced “ba-rak” or “baw-rawk”
Correct Claim: Baraq [ברק] is the word in Hebrew for ‘lightning.’ In Aramaic, its cognate is also “baraq” [ברק] or “barqa” [ברקא] depending on dialect and context.
Mistaken Claim: Mr. Obama’s first name does not come from the root “baraq” [ברק; bet-rish-qof] but the root “barak” [ברך; bet-rish-kaf] and is a common Semitic name and means “blessed” or “blessing.” To claim that these two words are the same is like saying that “right” and “write” are the same word, as they sound similarly but both come from very different etymology.
Now consider this amazing fact: The Book of Isaiah is the source of the origin of the Christian concept and understanding of Satan or ‘Lucifer’ as Isaiah calls him in chapter 14, especially in verses 12 – 19.
Mistaken Claim: Isaiah does not call Satan ‘Lucifer.’ Latin translations of Isaiah use the name ‘Lucifer’ (which literally means the “morning star” “day star” or the planet Mercury) as a translation of the Hebrew phrase הילל בן־שחר [“hillel ben shakhar” = “morning star, son of dawn”].
In Isaiah chapter 14 verse 14 ‘Lucifer’ or Satan is credited with these words:
“I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”
In the verses of Isaiah that refer directly to Lucifer, several times it is mentioned that Satan has fallen from ‘the heights’ or from ‘the heavens.’
The Hebrew word used in this text for the ‘heights’ from which Satan fell is Strong’s Hebrew Word 1116, pronounced “Bam-maw.”
Bammaw is most commonly used to refer to a ‘high, sacred place,’ as well as the ‘heights’ to ‘the heavens’ or ‘the clouds.’
Comment: The actual form of the word used in Isaiah 14:14 is במתי [“bamathe”]. Only in its root form is it pronounced “bah-mah.”
Correct Claim: במה [“bamah”] does mean “high place.”
Comment: במה [“bamah”]’s primary meaning is “shrine.” The “High places” mentioned in the King James Version of the Bible describe built-up altars that were used in religious practice throughout Mesopotamia.
Mistaken Claim: במה [“bamah”] does not mean “the Heavens” or “the clouds.”
Comment: “The Heavens” in Hebrew is השמים [“ha-shemayim”] where in Aramaic it is שמיא [“shmaya”].
In Hebrew the letter Waw is often transliterated as a “U” some scholars use the “O” of this transliteration. It is primarily used as a conjunction to join concepts together. So, to join in Hebrew poetry the concept of lightning or ‘baw-rawq’ and the high place or heaven or the heights of heaven, the letter “U” or sometimes “O” the Hebrew letter Waw would be used.
So “Baraq ‘O’ Bam-maw” or “Baraq ‘U’ Bam-maw” in Hebrew poetry similar to the style written in Isaiah would translate literally as, “Lightning and the Heights” or “the Heavens” or “Lightning from the Heights” or “the Skies” or “the Heavens.”
Correct Claim: Waw is used as a conjunction.
Mistaken Claim: Waw, as a conjunction, is never an “O” sound. In Hebrew, as a conjunction it would be pronounced “veh-” “u-” or in Ancient Hebrew “weh-“. In Jesus’ dialect of Aramaic, it would be pronunced “weh-.”
Mistaken Claim: Waw, as a conjunction never means “from.”
Comment: ברק ובמה [“baraq we-bamah” or “baraq u-vamah” due to pronunciation rules] would mean “Lightning and Shrine.”
The word “Satan” is sah-tan in Hebrew; a direct translation.
Correct Claim: שטן [“‘satan”] is the Hebrew and Aramaic word for “Satan.”
So back to Jesus’ prophesy in Luke chapter 10, verse 18. If spoken by by a Jewish Rabbi today, influenced by the poetry of Isaiah, he would say these words in Hebrew, the words of Jesus in Luke chapter 10, verse 18 as:
“And I saw Satan as Baraq u-Bama.”
Mistaken Claim: In light of the previous comments, in Hebrew it would have most likely been ברק מן השמים [baraq min ha-shamayim]. In Aramaic, it would most likely have been in ברקא מן שמיא [barqa min shmaya] or in Galilean Aramaic ברקה מן שמייה [barqa mən shəmayya]. (Update Aug 28 2014)
Did Jesus reveal to us the name of the Antichrist?
I report, you decide.
Comment: I believe that in light of the languages in question, that it is clear that this entire argument, theology and politics strictly aside, is based upon several, demonstrably faulty premises.
Peace, -Steve
PS: This is also ironically, The Aramaic Blog’s 100th post. Can’t say it isn’t spectacular. 🙂
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UPDATE November 2012: For those of you interested in the dialect of Aramaic that Jesus, himself, spoke I have posted my reconstruction of The Lord’s Prayer in Galilean Aramaic:
Born in Babylon? The jig is up! Read on…
